


Lamb in the Tigers' Den

by joeypoonie



Category: Original Work
Genre: Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 03:57:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7027534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joeypoonie/pseuds/joeypoonie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(AU) Our unlikely hero – thrown back into the past that is currently in the middle of a war; forging unbreakable bonds, creating history and even falling in love. A story that spans over millenniums is built upon lies and deceit. Will the need to survive and to return back home overcome the numerous brushes with Death? Step into the shoes of Yue, as she overcomes her inner demons to defeat her enemies. Who are her friends and who are the foes? Who can she trust in a world that made no sense whatsoever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

It was an immensely hot day in the middle of summer; with temperatures rising above 38oC. The humidity was high due to the torrential rain during the past two days – the perks of being in a tropical country; unpredictable climate. Heat waves streamed up from the heated concrete road accompanied by the constant symphony of buzzing from flying insects, chirping cicadas and the occasional rustling of the trees by the wind.

  
Yue stopped mid-trek, lowering herself to a squat. Sighing in defeat, she quickly made her way into the shadows of the trees by the side of the road and settled herself onto the mud. Pulling her canteen from her backpack, she cursed to no one in particular at the bad luck she had when her car decided to break down in the middle of the bloody mountain. It was bad enough that she had to be out of the comfort of her hotel on a day as hot as today and now she had to make her way up the mountain on a route designed for vehicles – that meant no rest-stops, vending machines or emergency phone booths.

  
Following the trail up the mountain would take her another two hours or so, perhaps longer considering the number of stops she had to take to get herself out of the unrelenting sun. One thing she was glad of was that before her trip to this rural town, she had chopped off her waist long hair in preparation for her upcoming role.

  
Yue was an actress-in-training. Well, she likened herself to one. To put it more accurately, Yue was a stunt double. She had already starred in a handful of motion blockbusters – as the stars’ stunt doubles to be precise. Her upcoming role was for a movie that was set in ancient china, in a Shaolin monastery and it required her to be able in basic Chinese Wushu.

  
The main reason why she was trekking up a mountain at eleven in the morning trying to reach the summit where a traditional Chinese martial arts dojo was located, that allowed her to video tape the lessons and copy the theory books.

  
Gulping down mouthfuls of water, she checked Googlemaps on her cell phone. Besides following the trail up the mountain, Googlemaps presented another way up - although it was not advised to. The terrain and slope of the mountain was unmapped, but it was possible to hike upwards through the jungle that covered the main bulk of the mountain.

It was almost noon, and the sun was reaching its highest point of the day. That meant that if she took the vehicle trail, she would have the sun burning directing down upon her, whereas if she went into the jungle, she would have lots of canopy protection. The thought of getting out of the sun made her giddy with glee as she replaced her canteen into her backpack and stood up dusting her backside.

  
Up and into the jungle it is.

  
Life as a stunt double was good. The exposure was good. The experience was important. Best of all, the pay was supremely enchanting. Sure, the risks involved in being a stunt double were high, but that was what insurance was for wasn’t it? Yue had met her biological parents once before – they were a nice couple, but they did not regret dumping Yue at the door of the orphanage. Yue was fine with that, truly, to put it bluntly, she was thankful to a certain extent; because the decision made by her parents when they were younger had moulded her into someone independent; someone who was capable of living life for herself.

  
Checking back against Googlemaps once again, Yue noted that although she was still far, the ground she had covered on this route would have taken her an additional half an hour on the vehicle’s pass. Smirking at her own wit, Yue bit her tongue a second after, having tripped over an exposed root and dropping her phone into the thick understory.

  
“Damn it!”

  
She riffled through the understory trying to spot her phone and a glint from her right made her thank the heavens that the sun was shining. Reaching for the little device, the ground beneath her foot shifted all of sudden. Grasping the little device in her palm, Yue stifled a scream as she tumbled headlong into the understory and was shocked to find that it was deeper than she had expected it to be.

  
Landing hard onto her left shoulder, Yue winced as a dull ache started to throb from within the bone. Sitting upright, Yue checked her phone and was relieved to see that it was still working albeit without any signals. She patted about her body to spot any other injuries and released the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Looking up, Yue tried to spot the route that she had fallen from but was surprised to see the white of a building.

  
Confusion wrecked at her brain as she stood up – how had she reached the dojo if she had fallen downward? Dusting herself slightly, Yue replaced her cell phone into her side pocket and made her way towards the building.

  
She froze mid-step when she felt a foreign hand land on her bruised shoulder, squeezing it slightly.

  
“Stop right there.”


	2. Chapter 1

Releasing a deep sigh, Yue used the back of her arm to wipe off the beads of perspiration that had formed on her forehead. The scorching sun shone down without mercy; the sky was devoid of any traces of clouds; not a single breeze blew.

Collapsing onto her bottom, Yue groaned in despair as she pulled her knees toward her tucking her head into her arms trying to block off the sunrays.

“Yue, here, drink this.”

Yue looked up and felt her lips pull back into a smile. She muttered her thanks before reaching for the ceramic cup. The cool well water slid down her parched throat, eliciting a grateful hum from her.

The one who delivered Yue her drink stood sheepishly by the side as his eyes glanced toward the other silhouettes around the paddy fields. His hair was pulled back into half a pony-tail, held together by a ribbon of light blue silk fabric.  His posture was withdrawn as though he was trying to be as invisible as possible; trying to appear as small as he could. His eyes darted from the disapproving eyes of the outsiders to that of Yue’s.

Yue looked toward the direction of the other farmers, throwing them glares before pushing herself back up. She laced her arm around the boy’s right arm and pulled him into the shade of an oak tree nearby.

“Don’t bother about them. They know nothing.” Yue uttered hurriedly as she gently wiped the perspiration beads off the boy’s face with the handkerchief she produced from one of her pockets.

It had been approximately two months since she stumbled upon this community. Yue was not too sure how much time had passed because everything had her so confused at the beginning.

Somehow or another, Yue had been transported back in time; to a period so far back in time where China had yet to be unified; where Kings still reigned and wars were still abundant. With what little knowledge she had about her Chinese history, all Yue understood by now was that this was the reign of King Xian of Zhou.

After her fall from the mountain, she had been discovered by her _mum_ ; apparently she was trapped in the body of a girl from the past. Yue had spent hours staring at her own reflection – she looked no different from before. The people in this small cluster of farms recognized her. She was not sure if it because of chance or perhaps some greater being at work – they all knew her as Yue.

The boy from before was Wei and he was her _brother_. He was an outcast; a hermit; a freak – as coined by the other villagers –, someone that was cursed. He was indeed different from the rest of the villagers.

He was a genius.

He was too smart for this current era. What they took for mental illness was his exceptional skill of observation and curiosity. He would delve too deeply into little details – like how gushing water would be able to generate a substantial amount of energy to move a boat without the need human intervention. His mind was built for designs and innovations. What life presented to him daily was only engaging his mental capabilities in the smallest of ways.

However, the villagers were blind to his intellect. In addition to this, he had a very keen sixth sense. He had been the only one to realize Yue was not his real sister. He was the only one Yue could turn to for support.

He believed her.

He helped her to get settled in, and she told him about modern technology. They would stay up late into the nights; Yue rambling on about the inventions in the modern world and a wide-eyed Wei, intensely taking down notes and adding in notes of his own. Yue gave Wei her mobile phone seeing how there was no way she was ever going to get a signal this far back into the past. Wei had Yue dismantle the back casing and remove the battery and SIM card. He was mesmerized with how little metal sticks with spirals carved into their sides were able to hold the device together.

He was even more excited when Yue was able to play the little number of songs she had stored inside the phone. In the short span of two days (before the battery died out completely), Wei had learnt how to solve Sudoku puzzles and play Tetris.

As for Yue, she felt as though she was thrown back into school. Wei had brought her up to speed regarding the happenings of the kingdom; who was the current king; what was happening near the borders; which states were bordering on wars; what the Mongolians were planning. It was interesting, but Yue just felt that everything was just a little too overwhelming.

Their _mother_ was another issue. She would constantly separate the two whenever she could. She would constantly ask Yue to help out in the farm or the fields whilst sending Wei off on errands in the market in the neighbouring town and the like. Yue could not help but feel resentful towards the older woman when she heard her complaining to the neighbours on how Wei was becoming a bad influence on Yue.

“So, how was it?”

Yue asked, closing her eyes as she leaned against the bark tiredly.

“It failed,” Wei sighed miserably as he sunk down into a crouch. “Again…”

“Well, isn’t there that idiom on how failure is the mother of success? Or something along those lines.”

“But! How hard can building a prototype for a water-powered boat be?” Wei whined in defeat.

“Hmm, let’s see… A few more centuries perhaps?” Yue laughed as she settled down onto the cool soil.

Wei sighed with mirth as he lay down on the soil next to Yue; his eyes glazing over as he watched the blue cloudless sky. Yue looked at her brother in awe – he was someone with immensurable intelligence and thirst for knowledge. He was a prodigy, so why couldn’t their parents or any of the townsfolk understand that or see that? 

Wei sat up abruptly, his face tensed as he concentrated on something in the distance. Yue looked at the same direction, puzzled. And then the voices of men accompanied by the sounds of hoofs grew louder. Yue mimicked her brother as they both stood, brushing off the dirt from their clothes. Wei started in the direction of the village square, Yue following behind.

There, eight riders stood tall and proud on their white imperial horses as their commander strolled forward. He was a man in his late forties - his tanned face covered in aged lines and battle scars –, a battle-worn copper helmet shielding most of his forehead and ears, leaving only his facial features seen. His eyes were grim as he removed a scroll from his leather pouch hanging by the side of his stallion.

“In the name of his Emperor, the King, I bring news from the capital. Our border villages have been attacked multiple times, incurring high numbers of fatalities. In the event of an outbreak of war with the other states, one man from every family has to serve the army for a period of five years.”

Yue gasped as she grabbed onto Wei’s arm. Their father was too old to enlist; the next in line would be Wei - her precious little _brother_.

“No…” Yue whispered as she tugged at Wei’s sleeve, pulling him backward away from the crowd.

They kept retreating until they exited the crowd that had surrounded itself around the eight horsemen. Yue wouldn’t stop until they rounded a corner, away from the prying eyes or the eavesdropping ears of the other villagers.

“You can’t go!”

“Yue, our father is too old. If I were to hide away and ignore the conscription, our family and all our ancestors and future generations would be shamed.”

Wei shook his head slightly as he pushed himself off the wall. He stepped round the corner and eyed the horsemen, whom were handing out conscription notices to the other villages.

“Who cares! Screw the army! Why do you have to sacrifice your life, your intellect, your future! For a king who is unable to handle his own childish feuds?”

“Yue!” Wei turned abruptly and grabbed hold of Yue’s shoulders.

His eyes bore sharply into Yue’s as he shushed her up. He looked around their vicinity just in case someone heard her talk. Such words were considered a crime; treason against their King if they were heard by unsavoury, greed-fuelled creatures who were looking for a cheap prize. Sighing deeply, Wei pulled Yue into a tight hug as he spoke over her head.

“If I were to die in the next five years, please try and preserve my research and notes so future generations would be able to start off where I left it alright?”

Trembling against the bigger frame of her _brother_ , Yue felt her eyes sting as she brought her arms around Wei’s torso. If he died, she would truly be all alone – in a world that hardly made any sense to her.

“The Fang Family.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 2

Dinner that night was noisy. The father was drunk on alcohol, throwing his slurred thanks to the high heavens for giving Wei an opportunity to prove himself. While the mother was a confused wreck; she was unsure if she was upset her only son was going to war or if she was relieved the freak of the family was going to leave.

Yue sat gloomily at the side of the table, shifting her dinner about in her bowl. She couldn’t bring herself to take a bite, every time she looked at Wei – showing off that smile, the smile that made him look so happy that for once his parents were proud of him for _something_ – she would feel her stomach turn to lead and her heart wrench as though she were physically in pain. The only reason he was happy now was because the parents were glad that their only son might have a chance to honour the family’s name in exchange for his death.

Wei turned and looked at Yue, a sad smile on his lips. He shook his head lightly before handing Yue the only chicken drumstick they had for dinner that night. The chicken drumstick their father had bought in celebration for Wei’s enlistment into the army.

“I don’t want it.”

“Eat it. I’ll get better food in the army, don’t worry.”

Yue looked down at the drumstick and felt her tears escape down her cheeks and into her dinner in front of her. She didn’t want Wei to die a meaningless death when his life was made for so much more. Wei shuffled closer to Yue and pulled her head towards his chest; he planted a soft kiss on the top of her head as he stroked her arm gently.

“Eat, we’ll talk later.”

*~*

“After Wei leaves, we should get Yue a betrothed so—“

Yue rolled her eyes and slammed her door shut, not wanting to listen anymore to the useless banter the older couple had to say. She sat herself down by the table with more force then she had intended and knocked the candle over, spilling wax all over the table top. Cursing slightly, Yue hurriedly replaced the candle into its erect position and watched as Wei took the seat opposite her.

“Wei, listen to me won’t you?”

“No. Not if you are still going to go on with that stupid idea of yours.”

“Wei, come on!”

Wei continued to ignore Yue and proceeded to scratch at the solidified wax on the table top. He had no intention on listening to the crazy plan Yue had came up with, much less go along with it.

“If I went in your stead—“

“No.”

“Listen to me!”

“No.”

“Wei!”

Although she was trying her best, Yue couldn’t stop her voice from whining at this instance. She had an excellent plan to not let her _brother_ get killed – but he wouldn’t listen to her.

“Look! If I went in your stead – listen to me first –, and failed out of the training, then wouldn’t it all be good? I am certain there is no way you’ll be willing to fail out of the training voluntarily seeing how much you want to impressed the folks and all,” Yue rambled quickly, arms exaggerating slightly to prove her point. “But I could! I don’t give two shits about what the two old people care about.”

“Yue, they are my parents – of course I want to make them proud.”

“Yes, I understand. I think. But they are not mine! So I don’t have the inclination of doing anything that would make them proud of me!”

“Why not?”

“Huh?”

Yue stared at Wei dumbfounded. She had never been asked a question as such – seeing how she never was in a situation that required her to think about her parents.

“If you imagined my parents as yours, why won’t you do anything for them to be proud of you?”

Yue sighed deeply, her fingers moving to scratch off the wax within her reach. She knew she would have to get to this question one day, but she hadn’t expected it to come so soon, nor did she expect it to come to her in a situation where nothing else made sense. Needing to distract herself from Wei’s inquiring gaze, Yue stood up and approached the window. She noted how the rice-paper covering the window needed to be fixed and how stiff the wooden hinge was as she pushed it open.

The night air was cold; crickets were singing their song from the bush where Yue had first stood up from. The half-moon shielded by dark clouds – casting a dark shadow over most of the village. However, the number of stars that dotted the dark canvas was overwhelming. Like glitter over dark paper, the stars twinkled with such intensity that cannot be found in the modern light-polluted cities Yue had grown up in.

“Yue?”

“I am an orphan, Wei.” Yue began, “I never knew my parents nor do I know what it feels like to want to make someone proud of me.”

Yue turned and looked at Wei, producing a small smile on her lips. It was true, she had grown up in an overcrowded orphanage; where there were barely enough workers working there to care for the children. She had learnt that she had been abandoned outside an orphanage outside the city and she grew up learning to be independent. Once she turned sixteen, the orphanage informed her that they were not able to care for her any longer and that she had to make her way to the city where she would be assigned to a factory to work. But that was not what she wanted to do with her life – she needed something more adventurous, something away from the lines of mundane and routine. She worked hard during her first few years as an adult as a street peddler - selling knick-knacks and whatever she could make out of the whatever she found in the streets -, using whatever she earned to enrol herself in a training school. After five years, she managed to get a job as a small time stunt double, slowly making her way up the showbiz ladder.

“Won’t you let me do something that can make me feel a little better about myself? Making sure you do not die a redundant death is going to make me very proud of myself. And that’s what I’ve always worked myself to the bone for,“ settling back down on to the seat she had vacated before, Yue continued “I may not have parents or a family to work for, but I always work to make myself happy. And you not dying will really make me one very happy girl.”

“But, this is dangerous.”

Yue gave a bark of laughter as Wei’s brow knitted together with worry. This period boy doesn’t know the horrors of living in the twenty-first century – everyday was dangerous back there, what with crazy drivers all over the roads; metal containers that could fly from one country to another thousands of miles away; people choosing to jump off cliffs and into the ocean just for that adrenaline rush.

“Wei, _brother_ dear, where I come from, and the fact that I work as a stunt double means, I redefine the meaning of dangerous and actively-doing-things-that-would-most-definitely-get-you-killed.”

 


	4. Chapter 3

“I’ll be back!” Yue muttered as she returned the tight squeeze from Wei. “And don’t stop experimenting!”

“Please please please, be careful. Don’t start fights, walk the other way if one does start and come back quickly.”

“Hehe, don’t worry Wei, I can kick butts really swell.”

“Even after so long, I am still not used to the accent you use.”

Wei gave Yue another hug before pressing another kiss on the top of her head. The sun had yet to rise, and all the little critters were still asleep. The moon was three quarters across the sky but the sky was still dark as shadow. Both Yue and Wei were setting off at the same time; one towards the army barracks, the other to three towns over the other way – this way, by the time the parents realised anything, they would have to search both places, and by the time they find Wei, it would be too late to reveal Yue’s true identity.

“Take care now.”

“You too.”

With that final greeting, the siblings reared their respective horses and galloped away in opposite directions – their hearts both longing the best for the other, regret and doubt, slipping silently into the crevices of their consciousness.

*~*

Cringing outwardly, Yue groaned out loud as her stallion cantered into the military base. Riding a five day journey with little rest was evidently too much for her, even with all her training. She climbed off her saddle and crash-landed onto her butt, invoking rumbustious laughter from the men who had witnessed her fall. Glaring about her, Yue pulled herself up with the help of the reins from her horse and surveyed her surroundings.

She had rewatched Mulan one too many times, it was exactly how the disney movie had depicted it would be. Bulky muscular men were smithing their weapons in clay furnaces. Others were comparing their tattoos and talismans. The only difference was the lack of men picking between their toes with chopsticks – something Yue was thankful for.

She spun round on her heels twice before she spotted the signing up table – or what she took for the signing up table. _There should be a table for the soldiers to sign in their names and report to, right?_

“Erm, hi? Is this where I sign up?”

“Where do you think this is? The fucking circus?”

_Well, at least some things just do not change even after a few hundred years._ Yue thought as she resisted with all her might to snap back.

“Sorry, my bad.” Spitting out her apology was hard, but Yue knew – with experience drawn from the movie Mulan – that making enemies on the first day was definitely a bad start. “Is this where the new troops report in?”

The muscle-head – as Yue decided to call him that – gave a gruff smirk, showing off his bad set of teeth as he pushed a scroll towards Yue’s side of the table.

“I’ll need your conscription notice and your signature. After which, proceed over to Zhao and he’ll assign you your sleeping area and equipment.”

Yue did as he instructed and handed over her conscription notice. She looked down at the scroll and realised, in all the months she had been in this period, she had never found out how to write her entire name _here_. Looking up at muscle-head, Yue gave a nervous laugh and proceeded to scribble multiple lines over one another hoping it looked like some complex artistic form of a name. She watched with her heart in her throat as muscle-head inspected her name and conscription notice before giving her the head-jerk signal towards the Zhao person. Yue gave a nervous thank you before pulling the reins from her horse towards the same direction.

Zhao was a younger man in his mid-twenties. He was muscular, in a proportionate sort of way; his body appeared well-maintained even under the cover of rough cotton top and pants. He had a more approachable sort of demeanour, relaying the new troops with well-informed instructions. _He looks friendly, at least._ Yue waited until Zhao was done with his current soldier before approaching him.

“Hi, are you Zhao?”

Zhao looked up from the parchment in his hands, glancing at Yue’s face once over before his eyes went back to the paper. His mouth opened slightly as though he was about to answered when his neck snapped back up, his eyes running all over Yue’s features once again. A stunned look gave way to confusion and to doubt and back to a mixture of disbelief and confusion. His mouth opened and closed several times before he seemed to have slapped himself mentally to bring him back to the present.

“Ye-yes. I am Zhao. And you are?”

“I am a new troop, Yue,” as if he couldn’t get any more surprised, the scroll in Zhao’s hand fell from his hands as he gulped down a huge breath of air. “I know it sounds like a girl’s name, but rest assured, I am fully and totally, one hundred percent, a man!”

Yue couldn’t stop the nervous giggle from erupting from her lips nor could she stop her palms from sweating the river Nile. She wanted to hit herself for being so obvious and prayed with all her might to whatever gods were present in this era that she wouldn’t be outed as being female. Zhao looked at Yue once again with that same confused look before he reached down to retrieve his scroll. A hard look appeared on his face when he straightened back up as he glanced at the list in his hands.

“The thirteenth tent in the red sector. Your training clothes and equipment should be in the tent, if they are unsuitable, bring it back to the red tent there in the center. Your weapons are yours to maintain; they should be cleaned and polished at the end of every day. If it should be deemed unsuitable, punishments will be in order.”

Yue nodded her thanks and pulled her horse along. She could still feel Zhao’s stare on her back until he disappeared behind the first few rows of tents. As she made her way to her designated tent, she passed by three different colour-coded sectors – each sector was like a company; each company housing approximately thirty troops. Four different coloured sectors made up one platoon and four platoons together made up one division. All four sectors within the platoon will be trained in basic muscle training and military basics, which included basic hand-to-hand combat and sword combat styles. After which, each of the different sectors will be further specialized in one of the four components: sword/spear fighting, horseback fighting, long-ranged fighting and scouting.

Although all the new troops were already assigned to a colour right from the start, after the first twelve weeks of basic military training, they would be reassigned to the appropriate sectors where they would receive the specialized trainings.

Yue peered into the open tents as she walked past them; each man had a tent to himself. They could fill the tent with whatever they wanted or needed as long as it doesn’t affect any of the other troops or act as a fire hazard. Upon reaching the thirteenth tent, Yue secured her horse to the wooden pole situated outside the tent for those who had brought their own horses but was surprised to find that her tent was already occupied.

“Excuse me; I think you’ve got the wrong tent.”

The man currently lying down on her bedspread opened one of his eyes to survey the newcomer. His clothes were mud-stricken and his hair a mess of leaves and sticks. Groggily, he sat up, rubbing his eyes as he released a loud yawn. He glanced over at Yue once again, taking his time as he inspected her from head to toe – a smirk growing on his lips.

“Well, I say, you’ve thought wrong.” He said as he laid himself back down and closed his eyes.

Yue stood at the mouth of the tent, dumbstruck and speechless – she was still formulating a comeback when a single eyelid slid open followed by a hand motioning away from his body.

“Now shoo, I’m trying to sleep here.” 

 


	5. Chapter 4

“I SAID you’ve got the wrong tent!” Yue snapped.

The intruding man simply turned his back against her. Fuming, Yue took several breaths to calm herself down – to no avail; how dare he _shooed_ her. Striding forward - her fingers closed around the collar of the man’s top -, Yue yanked hard.

“Eraghhh-!!”

The man choked out a scream as the front of his top pulled hard against his throat. Ignoring the man’s obvious cry of discomfort, Yue continued to pull on the collar until the sound of fabric tearing echoed within the walls of the tent and Yue flew backwards, landing on her butt outside the tent.

“ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!”

Groaning slightly, Yue looked up just as the intruding male rushed out from within the tent. His already dishevelled look, looked even worse with the torn collar; tearing eyes; and him coughing violently.

“I told you you were in the wrong tent.” Yue retorted as she stood up facing the man.

Face to face, the man was about two heads taller than Yue, but that didn’t mean anything. _The larger they are, the harder they fall._

“And no; I was not trying to kill you. I was merely trying to get the trash out of my tent.”

“TRASH?!”

 _Sorry Wei. Seems like Lady Luck isn’t on my side today._ Yue thought as the man before her stepped forward grasping her own collar. Yue stared up defiantly into the black pupils of the man before her, willing herself not to step down from this fight. Although Yue was well-versed in several forms of martial arts, she never had the opportunity to test it out in a real situation.

_Perhaps, today’s the lucky day!_

Remembering what she had learnt before, Yue quickly reached upward to grab the wrist of the hand holding onto her collar. With a twist, Yue should be able to attack the wrist joint, freeing herself and taking down her opponent at the same time. Without further ado, Yue grasped the hand holding her collar and twisted it as she did in her mind – it worked; the man had anticipated it; he had tightened his grip so that when Yue twisted his wrist, her collar was twisted along with her, tightening the gap against her throat.

The sudden force against her trachea caused a momentary jerk throughout her body. Yue choked against the sudden pressure causing a moment’s hesitation allowing the man to control the situation; his other arm swung round fast – his balled fist collided against the side of Yue’s face. A dull thud sounded loudly as Yue felt the pain seared from the point of impact. Her vision blacked out for a second before the hand that had been grasped onto her collar came crashing from the other side.

Without the fulcrum that had held her in place, Yue was thrown towards the earth. Her face was throbbing painfully as blood pulsated rapidly through her body with the aid of adrenaline. Stunned, Yue remained against the ground as her sense of equilibrium begun to swim on circles in front of her eyes. The taste of iron invaded her senses as soon as her body started to overcome the initial shock; followed by the dull ache of being punched twice, in the face - hard.

Groaning in pain, Yue blinked back the tears that had surfaced and looked toward her attacker. The man was standing with his arms crossed before his chest, with a smirk followed by deep laugh.

“Now this is how men get along in the army.”

A chorus of agreements rang out in the form of gruff _YEAH_ s and rambunctious laughter from the crowd that had gathered to watch their only source of entertainment within the camp; _fights_.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” A voice roared from within the spectators.

The arrival of the owner of the voice seemed to be someone of high authority as the spectating crowd hurried to let him through and the noise level dropped so quickly as though someone had pressed the mute button of the area. Still on the ground, Yue hastened to sit up as she observed the new arrival. The new male was an obvious alpha; his presence alone commanded authority and respect. His cold eyes scanned through the crowd before they reached the two in the middle; cold dark irises met Yue’s hazel ones and she couldn’t stop the shivers erupting from the back of her neck.

“This is my camp. You are my soldiers,” his dark eyes glaring as they moved across the crowd. “If you think that this training camp is going to be child’s play, need I remind you men once again what your purpose is here? We are at WAR.”

Although he was addressing the entire crowd, Yue felt her body jump slightly at the last word. A cold chill was emitting from her heart, spreading slowly throughout her entire body. The thought of having to go through a war was horrifying; history had shown men that in wars, there are no victors; any participating parties are losers the moment they sent their men to the battlefront. Death and destruction are the currencies of war – regardless of how powerful a country is, the battles are won through the trading of lives for blood laden territories.

“From now on, I will not tolerate any more idiots like these two here. You there, as _victor_ , your prize is to run around the premise of the camp until sundown. If you stop, you shall continue running again until all the new recruits have arrived,” the commander announced with a smug smile as he continued his stare down with the other male. 

“Zhao, see to it that he is treated.” Turning away, the commander indicated towards Yue before striding off.

“Running - my _favourite_.” The other male rejoiced; his words dripping with sarcasm.

“Lei, shut your hole and go run now,” Zhao roared angrily as he kneeled down beside Yue. “Do you not understand the meaning of NOW?”

Glaring at Yue, Lei gave a huff before he turned and started his run toward the camp’s gates.

“Come on, let’s get those cheeks of yours cooled down. Are you injured anywhere else?” Zhao asked as he helped Yue to her feet.

“Other than the face - perhaps my ego?”

Yue laughed as she accompanied Zhao into the treatment tent. Zhao settled Yue into the treatment chair before grabbing a cloth off the shelf and soaking it into recently well-drawn water. Yue watched in amusement as Zhao kept stealing fugitive looks at her and every time she caught him staring, he would inadvertently jump a little before looking back down at the cloth in his hands in a hurry.

“Your name was Fang Yue wasn’t it?” Zhao asked quietly as he handed the soaked cloth to Yue.

“Yes it is. Is something the matter?” Yue wondered as she held the cold cloth against her throbbing cheek.

Was she going to get into trouble as well because of the stupid fight she had with Lei? Yue silently cursed the man who was at that point in time running casually around the outskirts of the camp. Zhao looked slightly uncomfortable as he looked down at her again – his eyes full of confusion as he scanned her features once through.

“Yes, wait here.” Zhao said before he exited the tent swiftly.

Yue swallowed her saliva nervously as she stared at the exit where Zhao had just left from. What was he doing? Was he calling the guards or something? Yue removed the cloth she had been holding against her face and pinched at it anxiously as all kinds of punishments materialized in her head.

“All because of that god damned Lei asshole! Why did he have to occupy my tent? Arghh!!” Yue fumed angrily as she stood up and made for the exit.

Before she reached the exit though, she turned around and paced back to the seat she had been in before. Back and forth, repeatedly, Yue wondered why Zhao was gone for so long – it felt as though an hour was about to pass when in actual fact, it had only been merely eight minutes. Just as she was about to reach the exit again, Zhao suddenly reappeared from the outside.

“Holy crap!”

“What are you doing?” he laughed as soon as he spotted Yue’s expression.

Yue had jumped at the sudden reappearance of Zhao and rammed straight into a table that had been placed nearby. Her elbow had been the first point of contact and sharp pain was pulsating from it. Yue grabbed at her elbow and pulled it closer to her body as though the closer it is, the less pain it would emit.

“Come here.” Zhao laughed as he grabbed the injured arm and directed Yue back into the seat she had vacated before.

After settling her back down into the chair, Zhao sat down onto the ground before her. He looked at her directly into the eyes and remained this way for a few moments. Finally, he diverted his gaze away, exhaling slowly as he cupped his face into the palm of his hands.

“Alright then. Yue, why are you here and where is Wei?”


	6. Chapter 5

It was cold and numbing – it was like the time Yue had to jump down a waterfall as a stunt. It was mid-winter when they had filmed the scene; the water then had been freezing. As soon as Yue hit the surface, the cold water engulfed her entirety, for a second, all the air in her lungs came gushing out; the cold water ate away at her bare skin. She was under for less than half a minute but it was more than enough; by the time the crew managed to get her out of the water, her skin had turned pale; her lips were blue and her extremities were numbed. It had taken her two hours to get her body temperature back to normal.

“Yue, why are you here and where is Wei?”

To Yue, it felt as though she had jumped back down the waterfall and into the same water then. It was as though the warm blood that had been coursing through her veins had been frozen; frozen blood crystal shards were stabbing within her and her heart felt crushed. Her eyes widened in shock and fear as every fiber in her body went stiff.

 _He_ knew her.

 _He_ recognized her.

 _He_ knew about Wei.

Zhao watched as the girl before him froze up; her eyes were terrified and as if it were still possible, her already taut posture became even stiffer. Reaching up, Zhao placed his hands above Yue’s and was alarmed to find her hands cold and trembling.

“Yue, relax. Yue, listen to me,” Zhao grasped on tight to the smaller of hands. “Don’t worry; Lang is here too, I’ve got him watching the entrance.”

“La-lang?”

“Yeah, he’s outside. Will you please tell me why you are here instead of Wei? This is no place for a girl such as you.”

Yue was worried. Zhao acted as though he knew her – and if he did, Yue wasn’t sure how close they were before she took over the identity of the Yue from _here_. Zhao knew about Wei as well, that meant that Yue would either need to lie through her teeth and hope for the best or just come clean.

“Lang; does he know I’m here too?”

“Yeah, he spotted you when you were reporting in. He was helping Saihe at the desk.”

“Saihe’s the one with the bulging muscles and bad teeth?”

“Yup.”

Zhao gave a small laugh as he leaned back onto his arms to observe the girl before him. Yue was still nervous, but she had managed to gather her emotions and was at least breathing less rapidly as before. He hadn’t seen her in years considering how both Zhao and Lang decided to join the army as soon as they were of age.

“You’ve haven’t changed at all. Still the scrawny little kid we left behind those years ago.”

“Hey! Who’s scrawny?” Yue snapped as she brushed off the hand that had reached forward to ruffle her hair.

“How old are you now anyways?” Zhao asked.

“Twenty-eight.”

“Huh? Twenty-eight? But I’m twenty-four. Weren’t you four or five years younger than Lang and I?”

“Sorry, I heard the question as ‘how old am I’ – ‘I’ as in you?” Forcing a laugh, Yue wished she could just slap herself. “I’m er nineteen.”

Back in her time, Yue had been twenty-eight. Having left the orphanage at sixteen, things only started to pick up for her during her late twenties after she had been scouted by a Hollywood agent to perform as a stunt double for several big-shot actresses. After travelling back in time, one of the first things she found out was that the body she was now in was almost ten years younger. However, old habits die hard apparently.

“Erm, why don’t you grab Lang in as well? That way I don’t have to repeat myself to him again later.” Rambling, Yue watched with apprehension as Zhao continued to look at her with suspicion.

“Understood, wait here. I’ll go get him.”

As soon as Zhao exited the tent, Yue gave herself a slap on the face only to regret it immediately after the swelling from the punches earlier started to burn again. Cursing her own stupidity, Yue crept over to the mouth of the tent and pulled the flap open slightly. She spotted Zhao talking to another soldier in the shadow of an adjacent tent; both their facial features were shrouded in the shadows but Yue could see the tension in their body postures. Without any prior warning, the man who was Lang turned and looked right at Yue.

To Yue, Zhao was like a friendly older brother one could rely on. He was meticulous, slightly clumsy and kind. He gave off the impression of being someone who was non-judgemental and unbiased; he would listen to the entire story and the inputs from the parties involved before taking a stand. Lang on the other hand was like the eldest brother with a double-barrelled sawn-off shotgun and a shoot-first-ask-later attitude.

Gulping down the breath she had been holding, Yue released her hold on the flap and proceeded to march back to the seat she had just vacated. Releasing a ragged breath, Yue brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tight as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. They were already suspicious of her – how is she ever going to get out of this. In order to calm herself down, Yue silently counted the sound of her heartbeat in her ears – why did she even think she could work this out?

“Yue?”

“ _JESUS_.” Yue yelped as she fell off the chair.

“Gezeus? What’s that?” Zhao laughed as he pulled the girl off the ground and onto her feet.

“Oh! Er, nothing!” Yue slapped herself mentally. “He-hey there Lang.”

“Yue, what are you doing here?”

“Okay, y’all know what? Let’s all grab some chairs before we start anything.”

Yue wished she could bite her own tongue; without meaning to, she had just started to ramble. Quickly, Yue hurried round the tent gathering the three chairs together around the wooden table she had jumped into previously. Her brain was working in hyper drive as she tried to make up excuses and escape routes.

“Oh, and how about some tea? Let me go grab some tea cups and make some tea. How’s that?”

Fingers closed around her wrist. Stiffening, Yue cursed no one in particular as she turned around to face the stoic Lang. Smiling sheepishly, Yue gave up trying as Lang pulled her to a seat and settled into the one next to it. Now that all three of them were seated together, there was no other way to avoid it anymore.

The atmosphere between them was tense and awkward. The Yue Zhao and Lang knew wasn’t the same one that was seated before them; they may look and sound exactly the same but they were utter strangers to Yue. Chewing on her bottom lip, Yue looked at everything but just couldn’t bring herself to look up at the men.

“Alright, fine! What do you want to know?” Yue asked finally, unable to take the awkward silence between them.

“How’s Wei doing now?” Zhao asked gently.

“He’s - well he was doing fine the last time I met him. He was happy – I hope.” Yue sighed.

She missed being with Wei. She missed his witty jokes and the rare smile he would only show to her on days his experiments were going well.

“I’m surprised you’re that fond of him.”

“I didn’t like him before?” Yue asked Lang.

“You used to hate him; you used to say he was weird and all.” Lang replied with a weird look.

“Well, we grew up. And now I know Wei wasn’t weird; he was just different, in a good way.”

“So, why are you here instead of him?”

Sighing deeply, Yue scratched at the wooden edge of the table. She knew that there was no other way around this, but she didn’t want to get Wei into trouble, and she didn’t know if she could trust them with her secret. She was planning to fail out of the military training, but that in itself would still require a few months and if her identity was revealed before then –

Groaning silently, Yue reached up to touch her neck. If her identity was to be revealed before she could successfully escape, she was going to lose her head and that meant she’ll never be able to return back to her own time.

“If I tell you why, can you promise me that you will not get Wei involved in this?”

“Yue, you have to understand; we are in the middle of a War. The very idea of you being here in place of Wei is—”

“Yue, you are not a child anymore. Do you know what will happen if the commanders find out about this? This is not something you can get yourself out so easily after you get in.” Lang interrupted fiercely.

“Can you promise me that Wei will be safe?” Yue asked stubbornly.

“No we cannot.” Lang stated irritatedly. “Why are you acting like this? You could die!”

“So could you! Why are you here then? Who are you risking your lives for then?” Yue retorted back at them.

“Yue, listen to me. We are different; we are men, we have to protect our family and our country. This is our duty as sons.” Zhao explained.

“As a male, Wei should be here to defend his family and his country. Did he make you do this? Is he going to be a coward and send his-his _sister_ to die for him?” Lang asked in anger, his fist slamming against the table top.

“HE IS NO COWARD.” Yue snapped back; glaring at the offending male with angry tears in her eyes. “WE are no different. You fight to protect your family and country. I want to fight to protect MY little brother. _This_ is my duty as his family; who cares if I’m male or female?”

“I don’t want him to die.” Yue cried as the hot tears streamed down from her lids.


	7. Chapter 6

Her lungs were constricting; straining to breath. It was as though someone had their fingers around her throat whilst sitting on her chest; it was nigh impossible to breath.

Yue had collapsed at the side of the trail – much like her other trainees; almost every one of the newly recruited soldiers-to-be were slumped on the ground, gasping for air or trying to drown themselves in the lake off the side of the road. Yue pulled herself to the edge of the water body and proceeded to submerge her entire head in it.

After what seemed like an eternity, Yue dragged herself into the lake itself, allowing the cool water to envelope her entire self before coming back up to the surface for air. As soon as she managed to bring her body temperature back to normal, Yue spied at the few that still looked as though they were alive.

A small group of about ten stood together catching their breaths as they contemplated the situation before them – Lang and Zhao were amongst them, and so was Lei, the asshole who punched her before. Apart from the three she was _better_ acquainted with, the other seven were men who were also part of her sector and were the part of the battle-ready squad – as the other trainees had dubbed them. Zhao was captain of the red sector whilst Lang was assistant commander for their platoon – and both of them looked too relaxed even after running for miles.

“I am not ever getting out of this water.” Yue stated as she dipped her head backwards to look up at the sky.

“The trainings are horrendous; I think we might die before ever seeing battle.” Someone had laughed from the side.

It had only been a week since the trainings started, but the pace at which the trainings had taken was harsh. On their very first day, the trainees had been made to carry two sacks of rice each to run with along a mountain trail. That meant running uphill, a lot. They started right a dawn and proceeded up the mountain trail throughout the entire afternoon with the sweltering sun beating mercilessly down upon their backs. A small horse drawn wooden trailer had followed the soldiers along their route, and it was during mid-afternoon, when there had been about eight cases of fainting trainees and six of them vomiting, did the trainees realise what it was for.

During the run uphill, Yue had blacked out after the company had reached the peak and Lang had ordered the company to rest. When she had regained her consciousness, she found herself lying against the sweating back of one of her fellow trainees, Hao Qian. Hao Qian’s sacks of rice were piled on the trailer along with a few other sacks – rather than placing those who had fainted on the trailer, Lang had ordered other trainees to carry their incapacitated comrades back down the trail instead.

By the time the company had reached back to camp, the kitchen had already closed for the night although there were bowls of cold soup waiting to welcome the trainees back. However, most of the trainees were too exhausted to feel hungry and had collapsed wherever they felt like it. When daylight arrived the next morning, Yue found herself curled up at the side of the entrance to the camp.

As the trainings continued to intensify every day, her entire body had been sore and had continued to ache. This was not like anything she had ever done before; her trainings camps for movies or TV series – and she had gone through a lot of different training camps. She had been in both period dramas and modern era films, she had trained with professional instructors before, but alas, it was still not enough to get through this smoothly.

“Alright, gather up. We’ll be heading back to camp soon.” Zhao called out.

“I want all of you to split yourselves up into two groups,” Zhao continued after everyone gathered around. “One group shall be the thieves and the other the guards. The objective for the thieves would be to get back to camp, whilst for the guards all you’ve got to do is to catch them thieves and get their sash.”

 _Catching?!_ Yue laughed to herself; watching a group of grown men play catching should be fun.

“The thieves win if more than half of them reach the camp. The winning team will get to start training late by two hours tomorrow.”

Hearing the last sentence certainly perked up all the trainees; an extra two hours of rest felt as though it was god sent. Yue was in the group of thieves along with fourteen others, without any further instruction, Zhao merely yelled out “Begin!” and chaos erupted. The guards surged forward towards the thieves as the latter group hurried to scramble out of their reach. Yue turned quickly and jumped straight into the water – diving towards the bottom of the lake, Yue propelled herself forward quickly with a series of hard pedalling -, gut instinct told her to look back, and when she did, she spotted one of the guards swimming furiously after her.

Panicking, Yue pushed herself back up towards the surface to gulp down more oxygen before swimming as hard as she could in the direction of the opposite embankment. Looking back again, she realised the guard had been joined by another and both men were gaining on her. As soon as she reached the other side, Yue sped straight into the cluster of trees, spotting a thick bush - Yue squeezed herself under it in hopes of losing her pursuers.

Breathing heavily, Yue covered her mouth and nose with one hand as soon as she spotted the two men. Both men were breathing equally as hard as she, spun round on their heels trying to spot Yue; before splitting up to continue searching. As soon as both men left her sight, Yue quickly climbed one of the trees and got right up to the canopy. Breaking through the top layer of branches, Yue spotted the camp and mentally devised a plan to get down from the mountain in the direction of the camp. From her aerial view, Yue could see a few of her fellow thieves running down the mountain trail as the guards chased right after them.

Cringing, Yue watched as one of the thieves got tackled down by two of the guards hard; another thief throwing a guard over his shoulder; Zhao and Lang leisurely strolling down the mountain trail. Biting back curses, Yue made her way down from the tree after checking if the coast was clear, after which, Yue ran straight in the direction of the camp and just as she had expected, that route led her to the face of a downward slope.

“Found you!”

Turning around, Yue saw Han, one of her earlier pursuer racing toward her. Without hesitating any further, Yue quickly ran down the slope, tripping over smaller bushes and exposed roots from the trees. Hugging a tree trunk for support, Yue looked back at Han and found him struggling after her, trying his best to not trip as Yue did.

“Oh come on! Han! Go away!” Yue yelled at Han as she slid down the uneven earth after releasing her hold on the trunk.

“No way in hell! I want that that two hour break!”

After saying that, Han slipped and fell, rolling over dirt, roots and rock before he could grab onto a nearby tree. Groaning in pain, Han pulled himself up against the tree and looked up at Yue; he hadn’t realised how steep this slope was.

“Jesus! You alright?” Yue called down.

“Geezux? Wh-what?”

“Forget it, it’s nothing. Han, your head’s bleeding.”

A thin trickle of red was moving slowly down from the edge of Han’s hairline; Han reached up and rubbed at it causing a smear of red across his forehead. Yue sighed slightly before making her way down to Han – very slowly. Yue lowered herself onto her butt and slowly slid down the slope, her arms by her sides, ready to grab anything for support in case she slipped.

“This better be a temporary truce!” Yue said before she reached the other.

“There’s no such thing as truce in a war!” Han yelled as he lunged at Yue.

“There is you idiot!” Yue retorted, rolling away from Han’s outstretched arms.

Sharp rocks tore at her clothes and exposed skin while exposed roots slammed into her bones, “WOAH!” Yue cried out; shielding her face as she rolled down the slope. Pain erupted from various parts of her body as her body continued tumbling without her control – as soon as she was able, Yue used her legs to slow the fall as her fingers dug into the dirt around her.

“Asshole! Are you trying to kill me?” Yue snapped angrily after she had stopped her fall.

Turning to glare at the offending male, Yue flipped him off with both fingers before starting on her descend again. She could still hear him yelling after her as she hurried from one tree to the next, stumbling over loose rocks and protruding roots. It took some time, but Yue managed to get down the face of the slope relatively unharmed and was faced with a straight dash towards the entrance of the camp approximately six hundred meters away.

Yue turned and spied that Han was still too far behind to pose as a significant threat any longer. Crouching down, Yue allowed herself a moment to catch her breath and to allow her burning muscles a little break. As soon as she allowed herself to stop, it was as though it was a sign for her sweat glands to work at maximum; sweat started to pour from her forehead and skin. Using the back of her arm, Yue quickly dabbed at the sweat droplets dripping into her eyes before forcing herself back up. If she wanted the two hour reprieve, she would have to complete this last leg successfully.

Quickly scanning her surroundings and one last glance back up at Han, Yue took in several deep breaths before pushing her muscles to their very limits – dashing as fast as she could in the direction of the camp. She could hear the beating of her heart loud in her ears; echoing loudly. Her lungs felt as though they were burning as she struggled to get new cycles of air back into them with every breath released.

_Just a bit more! I’m almost there!_

Yue screamed in her head as she saw several of her _thieves_ standing at the camp entrance cheering her on although she couldn’t hear what they were yelling. Her entirety was just focused on pushing her across the safe line. The closer she got to the safe line, the faster her body seemed to be failing. Stumbling slightly over her own feet, Yue watched in slight confusion as the sky and earth started to merge before she felt the earth greet her face - hard.

Groaning in pain, Yue pushed herself off the ground and onto her knees as she tried to catch her breath. She was so close to the camp; it was less than two hundred meters away. Her eyes started to sting as sweat dripped into them – Yue sighed deeply as she tried to make herself stand; the end was so near but she didn’t have the will to continue on. Were the two hours really worth all this pain?

“YUE! HURRY!!”

Yue’s face jerked up towards the camp. They were so close.

“THEY’RE COMING!”

Horrified, Yue turned her head and saw as several thieves followed by handful of guards rushing towards her direction – the thieves getting taken down quickly as soon as they reached flat ground.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit!” Yue stammered out before pushing herself up quickly.

Adrenaline coursed through her once more, making it easier to forget the pain momentarily. As soon as Yue got herself back on her feet, the camp didn’t seem that far anymore. She knew she would be able to do it – that she would be able to get through the finishing line.

“Ooof!”

And just like that, Yue got rugby-tackled from the side.


	8. Chapter 7

_If only looks could kill_ – was what Yue had running constantly through her mind. She had her arms crossed in front of her in a tight lock as her eyes glared daggers at the smug-looking male seated before her. Even his laughter sounded offensive to her ears; crude, boisterous and arrogant. Huffing angrily to herself, Yue shifted her glare away to a spot in the nearby pole as a hand reached up to rub at her bruised shoulder.  

Yue had been rugby-tackled by Lei just meters from the finishing line – not only was Yue sore from being shoved, her ego and pride was hurt as well; knowing her “victory” had been snatched by the one guy she detested the most in the camp.

“You alright?” Zhao asked as he squeezed Yue’s unbruised shoulder lightly.

Unable to stop herself, Yue pouted slightly to the older male. Having been an orphan in a overcrowded orphanage, Yue never had the opportunity to enjoy the comforts of having an elder sibling; she didn’t have a particularly close friend in the orphanage as the kids in there were all moving in and out very quickly – there were a handful of rare individuals like herself, who never caught the eyes of potential fosters or adoptive parents.

“I hate that guy.” Yue mumbled as she returned the focus of her glare back to the object of her annoyance.

Zhao gave a slight laugh before resuming back to his strict demeanour. He nodded towards Yue before walking over to Lang - the two of them standing together exchanging quiet words. Laughter rang out loud from her side – one exceptionally loud which irked Yue utterly. Biting back curses, Yue promptly walked away from the group and settled herself as part of the circle of _caught_ thieves. The group was made up of roughly eight depressed individuals; each and every one of them was covered in wounds and dirt. Only seven out of the fifteen made it to the camp relatively unscathed; they would have won if Yue had been able to make it into the camp.

Yue could feel a couple of death glares trained onto her from within the group but she brushed them all aside – because, if they were any better, they would have been the ones who would have been able to get into the camp without getting caught.  Alas, they were still seated in the same defeated group as her.

“How’s the shoulder?” Yushan – another rookie recruit – asked.

“I’ve had worse. How’s your eye?”

Yushan had a cloth pressed over the top of his right eye; he removed to reveal a deep gash running from the corner of his right eye, across his eyelid and through his eyebrow ending up near the edge of his hairline.

“God damned.” Yue muttered cringing slightly at the still bleeding wound.

Yue liked Yushan. He was a new recruit and was on par with Yue in terms of athletic prowess. During the morning runs or hikes, it was usually the two of them on the verge of dying together. Due to the intensity of the trainings, Yue neither had the time nor energy to notice anyone else in her section other than Zhao and Lei. The first time she took note of Yushan was during their second day of training – Yue had collapsed in the training square after an entire day’s worth of training and she noticed the other recruit next to her, spread eagle, gasping for air like a fish out of water. Yue had thrown him her water sack and they became steadfast friends very quickly afterwards.

“Stupid girls.”

“Excuse you?!” Yue turned, retorting angrily.

Two other recruits – Deshu and Jian – returned her glare with similar ones of their own. They were both in pretty bad shapes; Deshu looked as though his nose was fractured whilst Jian was nursing a badly bruised jaw.

“Only little girls whine and cry over such pathetic wounds.” Jian snapped.

“Who the hell is whining?” Yue demanded.

“The damned kid who couldn’t throw Lei off perhaps!” Deshu said as he spat out a mouth full of blood at Yue.

“You are fucking kidding me!” Yue yelled standing up, furiously rubbing the specks of blood from her face with the back of her arm.

The two before her stood up as well; all three of them pissed and ready for a fight. Yue balled her fists up so tightly that her knuckles became white; blood rushed to her head and she was seeing red. Without warning, Yue swung her right arm around and slammed her fist against the side of Deshu’s face.

“He fucking tackled me! At least I got to camp – where the hell were you?” Yue roared as her knee came up to meet Deshu’s nose.

If his nose wasn’t fractured before, it sure was now as a dull crack resonated loudly upon contact. Deshu fell to the ground crying in pain, his hand clamped over the broken bone. Blood flowed freely from his nostrils as did tears from his eyes.

“Who is the one crying now asshole?” Yue laughed.

Movement from her peripheral vision caught her attention; Jian managed to land a few punches onto Yushan’s torso before the latter managed to get a well-aimed half turned kick at Jian’s jawbone. Swiftly, Yushan managed to incapacitate Jian; throwing him to the ground near Deshu. Yushan stepped up to Yue’s side with a smug smile etched on his lips as he swept his fringe away from his face.

“I see. Since the four of you are still that energetic, you can get rid of all that excess energy by running.”

Groaning inwardly at the familiar voice, Yue looked at Lang who had arrived some time during their fight. Although they were supposedly childhood playmates, it was hard for Yue to get close to Lang. Lang was someone who doesn’t open up to people well, and he isn’t someone who would treat another better just because they were friends or because the other is female. Lang is someone who is able to strictly separate personal issues from business.

This being the army, it was all strictly business.

Unconsciously, Yue had moved to position Yushan between Lang and her; perhaps the more distance between them would make it less awkward. Lang picked up the slight movement without fail and turned his gaze towards the female; his gaze held little emotion that made it hard for Yue to read. Unable to return his stare, Yue’s eyes decided that it was the correct time to look away and at anything but Lang.

“Jian, accompany Deshu to the first aid tent.” Lang ordered.

The two men hurried away without a word – everyone was wary of Lang. In their platoon, because Lang was the assistant commander for them, no one was in a hurry to get on his bad side.

“The guards who managed to grab the sash of their opponents will get to start tomorrow’s training late by two hours. Everyone else will be required to assemble by the front gates an hour before sunrise; any late comers will personally report to me. Dismissed.”

As soon as Lang dismissed the remaining recruits, those who were feeling victorious allowed themselves a quick cheer before hurrying off to the dining tent – it was two hours after sunset and if they wanted to have ample rest before the next training, they had to hurry with their dinner and their washing up. They knew there was no time for extravagant celebrations - at least not now.

“What are you two waiting for?” Lang asked quietly.

“Nothing. We’ll be off now, sir.”  Yushan saluted before dragging Yue along quickly towards the gates.

“God damn it! As if we weren’t exhausted enough...” Yue groaned deeply as soon as they were out of hearing range.

“At least he didn’t state how many rounds we had to run. Let’s just run for an hour to make it seem like at least we tried.”

“An hour?!” Yue gasped in horror. “Please say you’re kidding me!”

“Oh come on! We’ve done more than an hour’s worth of running before.”

“Argh… Fine!”

Even though Yushan said they would run for an hour, by the time the two of them returned back to their respective tents, Yue was positively sure Yushan had made them run close to two hours. He kept saying he hadn’t sweat enough and sure, he sounded as though he could have continued running even after their run, Yue felt as though she had lost her legs in the process. Yushan had dropped her off at her tent before heading to his own tent. As soon as Yue entered her tent, she collapsed heavily at the entrance as she didn’t want to soil her mattress. Closing her eyes, Yue took time to regulate back her breathing; allowing herself to sink deeper into the verge of sleep.

“Damn, you stink.”

Groaning at the voice, Yue opened her eyes to Lei squatting next to her holding on to the sash he had stolen from her earlier.

“Go away and you won’t smell it.” Yue snapped.

“The stink is permeating into my tent.” Lei said.

“Wow, big words coming from you today. I am positively sure; whatever you smelled in your tent came from you since you don’t smell all that fine yourself.”

“I know that.” Lei replied to Yue’s groan as he settled himself on the ground. “And I know we started off on the wrong foot, so I am proposing to start again with introductions.”

“As fellow recruits, let’s get to know each other better whilst we bathe, how that sound?”

“Er, bad?” Yue uttered as she jolted awake from her stupor. “Stark naked men, bathing together does not sound good at all!”

“I am quite certain all men bathe stark naked – why? Do you bathe with your clothes on?” Lei asked doubtfully.

“Dude, that’s not the problem! I mean men do not bathe together. That’s just weird an-and besides, can’t we just reintroduce ourselves here on dry land?” Yue asked nervously.

“Why are you getting all nervous for?” Lei challenged. “Unless there’s something you’re hiding under your clothes.”

“There isn’t. It’s ju-just that I injured my ribs a few days back, the doc applied some medicine and placed a bandage on. So I’m not supposed to let it get wet.” Yue explained quickly. “You can even feel the bandage through the top – see?”

Yue praised her quick-thinking silently as she pulled her top apart slightly to show just the top of the rows of bandages that adorned her chest. She waited with bated breath as Lei absorbed whatever she had just said.

“Damn son! You should have said something! And I tackled you so hard just now.” Lei exclaimed suddenly.

“It’s no biggie. Doesn’t hurt as much as before.” Yue gave a nervous laugh.

“Since it’s like this, can’t help it then. Anyways, I wanted to return this to you.” Lei said as he handed Yue her sash.

“Er, thanks.”

Yue was just about to retrieve her sash from Lei when he pulled back suddenly. Sighing in exasperation, Yue gave him a perplexed look – as if asking him a silent _What?_

“After your injury heals, let’s have that man to man talk again.” Lei replied with a strange look on his face as he returned the sash back to its rightful owner.

“I would very much like to get to know you better.”


	9. Chapter 8

“Did you hear about it?”

“From the green sector!”

“There was blood everywhere. And guts too!”

“It was amazingly cool.”

“I’m not kidding, his neck was totally broken!”

“That makes three of them doesn’t it?”

The situation within the training camp had gotten severely tense; groups of men would gather up at random places, whispering at first - their voices rising steadily each day – before it became outright discussions meetings. Every single higher ranked soldiers were on high alert; each of their respective superiors bearing down on them with unmasked frustration.

Within two weeks, three recruits had taken their lives. At first, the first incident had been shushed up by the higher ups, the recruits that had found the body first were taken away for a number of days before they returned with the promise of secrecy. Without a doubt, the news had spread throughout the entire camp by the next morning.

The first recruit had been from the blue sector and his body had been found bled dry with both his wrists slashed in his tent; he had neglected to show up for morning training and a fellow trainee had been assigned to rouse him from his tent as no one had seen him at the dining tent prior. The second had been declared missing at first; his superiors had assumed he had neglected his duties and had escaped. They were ready to send a search team after him as deserters were punishable by death. At least, that was the case until they found him face down floating in the river.

The third body had been discovered this very morning – hanging by a noose from one of the training beams. Although the body was discovered in the morning, the birds had gotten to him first. The cries from huge black crows had been what drew the attention of the people first; flocks of crows were found circling over the body; pecking out chunks of flesh from the body. His eyes had been the first to go – dried blood ran down from hollow pits in interrupted streaks. Bits of flesh had been ripped out from the cheeks leaving behind gaping wounds into the mouth cavity. Apart from that, it seemed as though some wild animal had tried its luck on the decaying body as well – whatever it had been, had sunk its teeth into the recruit’s foot and had tried to yank it down. The effort by this animal had dislocated the recruit’s cervical vertebrae from the spinal cord.

Although Yue stopped herself from following the crowd; the stench of decomposing flesh was thick in the air; accompanied by the audio narration from those who had the corpse in view – it was enough to make Yue feel sick.

“Heard them saying that these are suicides.”

“Bet they’re regrettin’ makin’ us train this ‘ard eh.”

“We’re cutting the rope! Catch him!”

Although Yue couldn’t see whatever was occurring, she heard the dull thud of the body against the earth along with cries of disgust from the people closest to the area of impact. Shuddering, Yue pressed herself against one of the back tents as more spectators pushed past her; she was having a hard time calming her heart down. Sure, she could jump off ledges and into freezing waters; she could handle venomous reptiles and ferocious animals; she could sit in a car that would eventually drive off the road and into the lake; however, dead bodies were a whole other matter.

As someone who had never been exposed to death or dead bodies, Yue couldn’t help but feel scared. She was terrified of anything supernatural-related; and most supernatural occurrences consisted of the dearly departed. Her colleagues used to frighten her with ghost stories or of accidents that they had happened to witnessed – being in this line, fatal accidents were bound to occur sometime. Film sets were also often said to be haunted by spirits of the departed crew members who were slightly too attached to their past haunts; superstitious directors and or crew member had often asked for cleansing or prayers for the sets before starting a project.

Whilst she had been lost in her thoughts, the group of officers who were in charge of clearing off the body suddenly appeared before her, with the body on a stretcher. Before Yue could register anything, she looked directly into the decomposing face of the recruit; the hollowed eye sockets; the bloodied check bones; the dislocated neck; and it was then when the entire smell of rotting flesh hit her nose did she feel the bile rising from her gut back up into her oesophagus; on its way out her throat. Turning as quickly as she could, Yue collapsed onto all fours as she threw up her entire breakfast. Hot tears formed quickly as her throat burned from the gastric acid; even after emptying her stomach of its contents, her stomach continued to retch. Coughing painfully, Yue became acutely aware that her breakfast was somehow not entirely on the ground – a large portion of it was splattered over somebody’s ankles and feet.

Even though the thought was utterly disgusting, Yue wished she had the guts to replace whatever she just threw up back into her gut. Fear and shame clouded her features as she looked up at the imposing figure before her. Where was Lady Luck – rather, why was it _him_ of all people to throw up on. Groaning inwardly, Yue used the back of her arm to wipe the remnants of her breakfast off her face before forcing her legs to stand.

The man before Yue was none other than the commander.

Kang stared down at the smaller sized man; the smell of vomit reaching his nose causing a crinkle of annoyance to form on his brows. His line of sight shifted as he looked at the mess covering his boots before shifting it back up to the culprit. Kang felt his anger rise from deep within as the soldier lagged a faster apology; without a single hesitation, Kang backhanded the soldier and watched with little satisfaction as the soldier fell to the ground with a groan. From his peripherals, he saw his vice commander twitch suddenly the moment he landed the blow on the soldier. Kang turned and looked at Lang; but the other remained impassive.

“Do you fear the dead?”

Hearing the sarcasm in his voice, Yue couldn’t help but shoot the Kang a glare. Sure, she vomited, but it was not as though she did it on purpose. She did not choose to aim her vomit all over his boots nor did she even want to cover her entire oesophagus with burning acid. To add salt to her wounds; her right cheek was now throbbing in pain from the blow she had received from Kang. So what if he were the commander? Did that give him the right to out rightly punish his soldiers just because they could not stomach their breakfast in the face of death?

“Yeah, I do. So what?”

Pissed off; Yue forced herself to ignore the throbbing pain and to stand facing Kang. Her blood was boiling and her knuckles were itching to land some revenge punches on that undoubtedly handsome face.

However, her smart mouth got her a punch in her solar plexus. For a moment, Yue blacked out. The force from the punch knocked all the wind out from within and when she regained whatever conscious she had left, Yue realised that she was lying face flat on the ground – her face right next to her half-digested breakfast from the morning. The after effects from the punch was still reverberating through her nervous system; small dark spots were still dancing wildly in her eyes and she could not tell if she was truly awake or not.

“This is not a child’s den. This is a battlefield and people are going to die every day. If you cannot take even such a small obstacle, I have no use for such worthless waste-of-space. Any of you who are the same as this vermin over here can get the hell out of my army.”

Having said that, Kang kicked off his boots before leaving.

Yue didn’t know how long she spent lying next to her vomit. One moment, the vomit was still within her line of sight; the next, she was looking up at the cloudless blue skies above.

“Come on, try standing up properly.”

A familiar voice spoke from her left, but Yue couldn’t comprehend whatever the voice just said. Her ears were ringing as though the irritating fire alarm from her school days had just been tripped right next to her. She stared at the owner of the voice – unable to gather her thoughts.

Yushan sighed heavily as he placed Yue’s arm across his shoulders while his went around Yue’s waist. He could tell the Yue was still unable to comprehend whatever had been said to her at the moment. The commander always had a very powerful punch; he knows this because he had been on the receiving end more than once. Yushan asked the crowd surrounding them to give way as he dragged his friend towards their sleeping quarters; at this rate, Yue would not be able to participate any of their trainings, at least not until late afternoon. Upon entering Yue’s tent, Yushan dumped the still dazed Yue onto the futon before he went back to retrieve the commander’s boots – he knew that if Yue didn’t clean them, there was going to be another one-sided fight just like the one that just occurred.

Groaning in pain, Yue’s eyes shot open; sitting up quickly made Yue regret instantly. The pain from her abdomen intensified as her arm circled around her abdomen – the additional pressure providing her a temporary relief. Once she felt that she had the pain under control, Yue cursed the name of Kang to the high heavens and to the depths of hell. That bastard deserves all the misery and pain she was cursing him with. To her utter dismay, her eyes caught sight of the very boots that started everything, standing innocently – whilst still covered in vomit – by the entrance of her tent. Reaching for whatever was within arm’s length, Yue promptly threw her sword at the vomit stained culprit.

The sword hit the offending footwear before falling back onto the ground. Although it did nothing to soothe the anger in Yue, it helped release some of the frustrations raging through her. Lifting her top up, Yue spied the bruise forming on her abdomen and cursed Kang even more. This was going to cost her during the trainings for the next few days.

And she was right.

Throughout the entire week, the news of the fight between the commander and Yue had spread through the entire platoon; even troops from other sectors were well-informed in the outcome. Both Lang and Zhao were entirely indifferent to the matter, although Zhao had shown up outside her tent on the day of the fight to give her a small bottle of medicated ointment for her bruises. They were the same during trainings; relentless and unforgiving. If anything had changed because of the fight, it was that they realised how bad Yue was at hand-to-hand combat. Therefore, they had increased the hours and rounds of hand-to-hand combat trainings for everyone.

New bruises joined the existing ones as the trainings dragged on. Although Yue told Wei that she was going to fail out of army training, she wasn’t given the opportunity to fail at all. Even though Kang had mentioned that he wanted people like Yue out of the army, it seems the army needed the soldiers more than the soldiers needed (or wanted) the army.

No one was allowed to leave.

Days turned into weeks and weeks into months without much notice.

Unlike that of the number of bodies that started to turn up all around the army camp.


	10. Chapter 9

Yue knew that she was pacing and yet she could not stop herself. The longer she waited, the faster she paced; to and fro, back and forth, step after step right outside the commander’s tent. She had peeked inside some time earlier to find it empty. In her arms were the once vomit covered boots that belonged to Kang; Yue had cleaned them until the worn out leather shone a little. She even soaked them in a mixture of used tea leaves to ensure that whatever lingering smell of vomit was removed entirely.

It had been barely ten minutes when Lang found her still pacing.

“The Commander is not here.” Lang said. Entering the tent, Lang approached the desk that was situated next to the entrance and placed the rolls of parchments he had been holding carefully onto the table top.

Yue watched with a raised eyebrow as Lang arranged the parchments in accordance to their lengths; it was as though he had an invisible measuring tape with him. Satisfied, Lang straightened up and dismissed Yue’s questioning look with the crossing of his arms across his chest.

“Do you know when he will be back? I just wanna return these to him” Yue said, indicating the boots in her arms.

“Just leave them by the entrance with the other boots.”

“Alrighty then. Could you please tell the Commander that I’ve left the boots here? I don’t wanna piss him off again.”

Placing the boots down by the other boots, Yue straightened up to find Lang studying her.

“What?” Yue asked.

With something that looked like a shrug, Lang dismissed Yue from Kang’s tent. Yue knew better than to probe any further; sure Lang was a nice guy. But how nice would he be if he found out Yue was an imposter? Besides, _nice_ was variable, unlike Zhao, Lang hardly showed Yue any affection.

Exiting the tent, Yue looked up at the night sky; the nights here were pitch black if it weren’t for the fire torches placed systematically around the camp. Pitch black had an advantage – the night sky appeared dark blue dotted with shimmering stars; like glitter thrown across a dark canvas. Yue could make out constellations although she didn’t know what they were called. Without light pollution from cities nor any high-rise buildings standing in the way, the sky looked enormous, spanning from horizon to horizon. It felt as though the sky would swallow Yue up whole without hesitation.

Having gotten used to the layout of the camp like the back of her hand, Yue navigated half-blind towards a spot she had found some months ago. Across the camp entrance, the flat plain that lay open right under the sky away from the trees; it was the perfect spot to stargaze. Hardly anyone came here even though it was so close to the camp because everyone chose to go swimming at the lake on the other side of the camp.

Lying herself down, Yue cringed in pain as she disturbed the healing bruise on her abdomen. Strings of curses came tumbling out from her lips; curses that involved Kang and his manhood. Breathing heavily, Yue settled herself down; resting the back of her head on her arms as her eyes glanced across the galaxy above her. Slowly, Yue’s breathing returned to normal as the sharp pain subsided – replaced by a dull ache. Removing an arm from behind her head, she rubbed her bruised abdomen gingerly hoping that it would elevate the ache.

The wind was picking up, the cold wind dancing through the leaves and grass; although it wasn’t strong enough to force Yue to return to camp. It was cool enough to induce a sleep haze to grow in her mind. Her lids grew tired and heavy, closing slowly before she would force them open again only to have them close again. She did not know how much time had passed before the sound of footsteps approaching pulled her out of her stupor.

Ignoring the pain, Yue jerked straight up as she glanced around her surroundings. It seems her military training hadn’t failed her yet. Her right hand shot to her left hip quickly to retrieve the sword the military had issued her; only to remember that she had removed her sword before going to find the commander when her fingers enclosed around nothing. Mentally slapping herself, Yue forced herself to full alert as she tried to pinpoint the direction of the newcomer. There it was again from her left.

“Great! Right in the dense thicket…” Yue groaned.

There shouldn’t be anyone out there this late in the night as Zhao had warned the recruits of poisonous snakes and whatnots that roamed in the forest at night. Deciding that it was none of her business, Yue quickly retreated from the direction of the sound – she had watched enough films back when the internet had already been invented to know that curiosity at times like these were what got the characters killed.

Yue was right.

Just as she was about to leave, she heard the sounds of a battle. She could make out a male voice although she could not make out the words. Whilst she was fighting her curiosity, the metallic shrill of swords leaving their sheath rang through the silence of the night. The clashing of the metal forced her out of her indecisiveness and she found herself walking towards the fight before she could even stop herself.

Entering the forest, Yue was glad her eyes had already gotten used to the dark thereby making it easier to navigate in the darkness. She only had to walk a short distance before the words from the man before became coherent.

“The King knows; We know and We will never stop hunting you down. A traitor like you will never succeed.”

The man who spoke was a fellow trainee Yue had met on a few occasions. Tien was his name and his record had not been impressive, in fact, he had been one of the more mediocre soldiers of their batch. He always claimed that he had a bad back and could not do much of the military trainings. This very same guy was now fending against a masked assassin; his movements fluid as water as he evaded the attacking blows. Blow after blow; jab after jab; Tien was able to parry every single stroke that came his way.

“We are the shadows behind the King’s guard; the poison on the King’s sword. If you think We are that easy to take down, you are going to regret that when We have that head of yours up on a spike on the city’s gates.” Tien growled lowly as he changed into offensive.

The masked assailant was just as good as Tien; Tien’s words did not affect him, in fact it seemed as though Tien had not spoken at all. He evaded all the attacks from Tien just as easily as Tien had.

The attack came fast and silent; a poisoned needle found its mark on the side of Tien’s neck – straight into the pulsating jugular vein. It was instantaneous. Falling to his knees, Tien watched in horror as his body refused to listen to his commands. The masked man strolled up to behind Tien, an arm snaking around the base of Tien’s neck.

“You are not shadows if you are shining so brightly for me to see. Only men from the King’s personal guard have such extravagant flowers engraved on those hilts,” the masked man said tapping the hilt lightly as he picked up the slackened arms of Tien.

“And it is only poison if it hits its mark.”

Red. It was all Yue could see. Red blood poured out from Tien’s abdomen and back as the masked assassin slowly buried Tien’s own sword into its wielder’s body until only its hilt shown from the front and half of the blade had exited from the back. Tien’s eyes were wide opened in shock and pain as he was unable to fend off his killer.

“You were the easiest compared to the others.”

It was some time before Yue could regain her thoughts. She released the breath that had been stuck at the top of her throat without even realising how shaky it was. Hot tears had formed and slid down her cheeks as she watched Tien struggle to breathe through the pain and blood that was regurgitating into his mouth. Without a second thought, Yue approached the dying man and saw the fear in his eyes. He had tears running down his face as his body remained useless to him; his eyes fixed upon Yue’s as though he were imploring her for a favour. Yue did not know what she was supposed to do, she tried to pull the sword out from Tien; but that only evoked a gurgle of choked blood from Tien’s lips and more tears from his eyes.

“I am so sorry! Ho-hold on please! Please! I’ll go get some-someone. I’ll get Zhao, so please hang on!” Yue begged as the man before her started to die.

Tien’s body started to spasm violently; his eyelids drooped heavily as his eyeballs rolled upwards. In a split second, Tien started gasping – blood choking his airways as he started suffocating on his own blood. With a final cough, Tien’s eyes flew open as his dying glimpse landed upon Yue. It was as what she had heard from other people, the first to go was the light in their eyes. It was as though the glitter of life had escaped from the eyes first. A dullness enveloped the irises even before the blood stopped pouring; even before the sound of Tien choking on his own blood stopped; before the heart even stopped beating. It were the eyes that went first.

“N-no! No no no no!” Yue cried as she tried to shake the man before her alive.

Quickly, Yue got to her feet and ran towards the camp, she had to get to Zhao. There was a killer out there targeting the soldiers of the camp. Zhao would know what to do. Yue ran through the camp gates and stumbled slightly before crashing hard onto the ground. The tears in her eyes blurred everything before her as she pushed herself off the ground; a shiver ran up her spine. Her head jerked up and she looked back towards the direction she had came from and spotted the masked man staring right at her. Supressing the scream that was threatening to erupt from her lips, Yue forced herself with whatever willpower she had to swallow it back down and to run – to run as fast as she could because if she didn’t, she would definitely be next.

Her momentum was stopped abruptly as she slammed hard into another person. Although the impact made Yue stumble and hit a smithing anvil, she knew she couldn’t be stopped here. Without a second glance, Yue pushed herself back onto her feet and forced her way into Zhao’s tent when she finally reached it. She was not too sure how she made it, but the moment her vision settled onto Zhao, she collapsed into a fit of hysteria.

“Yue?!” Zhao cried out as he pulled her further into the tent and into his chair.

The girl before looked as though she was crazy. She was covered in dirt; her hair was in a mess; there were tears pouring out from her unfocused eyes; and her entire abdominal area and her arms were covered in blood. From her mouth, incoherent words just kept mumbling as her entire frame trembled with what he knew was fear.

Zhao looked up from the girl before him and looked haplessly at the other two men in his tent with him; Lang and Lei. Both of them had been taken aback when Yue stumbled in from the outside visibly shaken and covered in blood. Yue had not noticed them at all when she came in because her entire consciousness had only been focused on finding Zhao.

“Z-Zhao, Tien! Tien needs help!” Yue cried as she grabbed on to Zhao.

“Tien? I don’t get it, what help? What happened?”

“In the forest. He-he, Tien, he got st-stabbed!”

Zhao saw someone move suddenly from his peripherals before Lei pushed him aside, his hands were on Yue’s shoulders at once, holding her still and making her look straight at him.

“Where in the forest?”

“There’s someone out there. He killed Tien. I think Tien is d-de-dead…”

“WHERE in the forest?!” Lei asked once again, this time with more force as he shook the disorientated Yue slightly.

It was as though Yue just noticed Lei in the tent for the first time, her unfocused eyes seemed snap back into focus on his dark brown pupils. Yue had to blink several times before Lei’s words made sense to her in her mind.

“Near the small shrine the other soldiers set up sometime during the eighth.” Yue muttered softly, her heart thumping loudly in her ears.

“Lang, go get the commander; Zhao increase the number of guards and inform the others.” Lei ordered before he turned back to Yue once again. “Yue, I need you to take me to Tien, can you do that?”

Shaking her head, Yue tried to tell Lei that it was impossible. She could not bring herself to return there because she knew exactly what had happened there and what was now waiting for her if she were to go back. _He_ could even still be there, and there was no way she could even stand properly if she saw _him_ again. Lei asked her once again, and still Yue refused. She couldn’t do it. Lei had to understand that. She just couldn’t do it.

Sighing irritably, Lei rubbed the back of his neck roughly before grabbing Yue’s wrist. There was little sympathy in his voice when he finally spoke.

“I can’t see well in the dark so you WILL take me there now.”


	11. Chapter 10

Fear overwhelmed Yue completely; her breaths were quick and shallow; she knew she was hyperventilating. Sweat constantly coated her palms even after she had wiped them just a minute before, her head was throbbing and her muscles were weak. Whimpering slightly, Yue turned her head slightly in an attempt to plead her way out of this from Lei. But Lei was having none of it.

Lei had a burning torch in his hand, but even then, his forehead was screwed up in utter concentration as he tried to peer through the veil of darkness around them. He had very bad night vision and the torch wasn’t helping much.

“Lei, please let me go back.” Yue pleaded as Lei forced her to lead.

“Shut up and mov- GOD DAMN!” Lei cursed as he stumbled over an exposed root sticking out from the ground.

Yue felt her blood freeze within her veins when she spotted movement coming towards them from the right. Her fingers tightened their hold around the hilt of the sword until the whites of her knuckles shone. Sensing her apprehension, Lei stopped mid-trek and turned towards the same direction as well; he couldn’t see the disturbance but he could sense the approach of three-no two individuals. They only had to wait for a few moments before the intruders broke through the thicket; Lang and a half-dressed man appeared from the darkness.

“Lang!” Yue cried out in relief.

It took her some time before she realised who the other man was – Kang; the resident camp commander. Kang openly stared at the dishevelled state of Yue; particularly the blood that covered her abdomen and arms. Without a word, he unsheathed the double swords from his hip and boldly stepped into the darkness beyond the light range of the torch. Lang stepped up from behind and placed a comforting hand onto Yue’s head for a moment; it was brief but it was what Yue needed right at that moment. An indication that she was not alone in this and that she had friends beside her.

The small group advanced forward with Kang at the head and Lang bringing up the rear. Yue started to recognize the surroundings, but before she could sound it out to the group, Kang broke through to reach the body first. Wild critters scattered quickly when the light from the torch reached them; their eyes wide with fear.

Tien’s body had yet to cool; rigor mortis had barely set in. Bits of flesh from Tien’s thighs had been gnawed off by the wild animals but barely any blood flowed from the wounds anymore. Blood had pooled on the ground around Tien’s knees, bloody paw prints led away from the body to the depths of the darkness that hung around like a thick black veil.

The stench of death and blood was heavy in the air. Yue felt bile rising up into her throat, she turned quickly falling onto her knees as she released the contents of her stomach onto the ground. Coughing from the burn of gastric acid at the back of her throat, Yue looked up and watched the men circle around Tien. Lang took off into the shadows to ensure that they were truly alone whilst Lei knelt down by Tien’s left side.

“You say this was a murder?” Kang asked from his position behind Tien, his eyes trailing the blood trail down Tien’s back.

“Th-there was a-another man here. He kil-killed Tien.” Yue stammered as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

Her stomach was still contracting weirdly as if it were trying to propel more digested material up her oesophagus. Unwillingly, Yue forced herself to look at the body. She saw it when it happened but her mind still had not truly accepted the fact that she watched a man get killed – and she did nothing to stop it from happening. Sure, Yue knew she would not have been able to defeat the murderer, but she could have called out for help or at least try and scare him off. The guilt bubbled up from deep within as her gaze landed on the empty eyes that had looked at her at the last moment.

They were closed.

“His eyes were open!” Yue pointed out as she jumped up.

Kang circled around from the back to the front of the body and looked at Tien’s face. Spotting something, Kang used the tip of one of swords to pull something out of Tien’s trousers pocket. Unfolding the crinkled piece of parchment, Kang’s eyes ran up and down the words that had been written before looking toward Yue incredulously.

“This is his suicide note, complete with his stamp.”

“What?!” Yue cried out in disbelief. “But that’s impossible, I watched him get stabbed!”

Lang stepped up from behind and took the note from Kang to read it for himself. He looked at the stamp and noticed nothing out of the ordinary from it. The stamp belonged to Tien, no doubt about it. Glancing up from the note, he realised Yue was staring at him, waiting for a response. Sighing deeply, he nodded his agreement to Kang’s words.

“I am not lying! Why the fuck would I lie about this?” Yue asked, face flushed in disbelief and anger.

“Guilt perhaps? You watched him commit suicide but did nothing to stop it and now it is eating you up from inside? Or perhaps, you like the attention? Seeing how you have done nothing but stand out right from day one.” Kang stated as he fixed his eye on Yue.

“What the FUCK?!” Yue roared, her mind clouding with anger. “You god damn idiot, mother-fucking piece of shit!”

Raising the sword in her hand, Yue charged toward her commanding officer before Lang or Lei could stop her. Their swords met with a crash; Yue stumbling backwards from just one block from Kang. Relentless, Yue charged forwards once again, swinging her sword down from the side; Kang parried the attack with his twin swords throwing Yue off again. Moving swiftly, he rained blows down left and right without skipping a beat – a little surprised that although Yue was slow, she was still able to block some of the blows. Swinging her sword across the back of her head, Yue brought her sword down hard, directly into the crossed twin swords. Kang lifted his foot swiftly, landing a clean kick directly onto Yue chest.

Air escaped her lungs faster than she could register as pain exploded from her ribs. Her head hit the ground hard and before Yue could make sense of anything, twin blades circled around her neck, drawing blood from beneath the skin.

“Attacking your commanding officer is definitely the stupidest thing you’ll ever do. Throw him into the cells.” Kang commanded.

“There was someone here – I swear.” Yue muttered through gritted teeth.

Zhao circled around from behind and placed an iron grip on her upper arm. Yue looked up at Zhao for help but was shut down the moment her sight reached the stoic features of her childhood friend. Behind that mask, Yue was sure Zhao was fuming at her idiocy towards a superior.

Sure enough, the moment the two of them were out of ear-shot, the berating started.

*~*

The cells were more of cages. Six steel bar cages situated a few feet away from each other – there was neither solid roof nor walls to provide any protection for the detained from the merciless sun, wind nor rain. The cages were bare save for a floor of wet hay, Yue did not even want to think about what it was that coated the hay apart from rain water.

Zhao had dragged her back to the outskirts of camp, his voice hard with suppressed anger and something that sounded like impatience.

_“Yue, please stop drawing attention to yourself. Please!”_

_“But – but! I was telling the truth! Tien was murdered – I swear!”_

_“Yue. I need you to stop saying that. Just – just stop.”_

After locking her into the cell, Zhao had left without a second glance nor was there any hesitation in his footsteps. Other than her, there was another man stuck in another cell two from her left; he was hunched over at a corner, his heavy-lidded eyes had been following their conversation and they trailed after Zhao as he walked away. The man looked at Yue silently as if slowly sizing her up before he laid his forehead back down into his arms.

Letting out a growl of irritation, Yue paced the cell – back and forth, back and forth. Her senses heightened as she stared out into the surrounding darkness, trying to spot for a sign of movement. As her adrenaline slowly wore off, Yue realised how exhausted she was slowly becoming. A pounding headache was forming from the back of her skull and her muscles were aching. Finding the driest spot in the cell, Yue lowered herself onto the hay and pulled her knees to her chest. Hugging her knees tightly, Yue spotted red lines running along the length of her arm; her bad habit was back. Whenever she was stressed or nervous, she would start scratching herself; it was as though the physical burn from the scratches were enough to rid her of her frustrations and worries.

Yue thought she had gotten over it after getting into the film industry. It had been years since she last found her arms covered in zigzags of burst blood vessels. She felt her chest swell up as her eyes started to burn and her nose sting. Quickly laying her head against her arm, Yue swallowed the sob that was threatening to escape. Everything was starting to overwhelm her, even more so than when she first arrived in this foreign era. She thought she was able to deal with whatever that came her way, but she was wrong. It felt as though whatever was happening now was part of some horror script, and she was a minor character who was going to be killed off halfway through.

_The director is going to yell ‘CUT!’ any moment now._

Pearls of warm tears dripped down from her lower lid, crashing into the hay below her. Yue bit her lip to prevent herself of sobbing out loud. The wind was picking up and the cell was doing nothing to stop the biting wind against her exposed flesh. Shivering, Yue tightened her arm around her knees, trying to make herself as small as possible.

_Any moment now…_

The moon was already on its descend across the sky when Yue finally drifted off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 11

The night air was humid and sweltering hot. The sun had set below the horizon hours before but the temperature had yet to cool. Creatures of the day had long retired to their burrows or nests, the only sound came from the crickets and toads or from the occasional wild animal hunting in the cover of the night. The stillness of the night was interrupted by the glint from the sword that shone sharply through the dark, slicing across and tearing into fabric – missing the flesh by a mere hair breath. Pulling back, the sword slid vertically across the length of the attacking steel, aiding its master in evading the killing blow.

Although the masked man was surrounded, he was still able to skilfully parry every attack that came his way; save for one slash across his abdomen. Apart from that, he had still manage to draw blood from his three opponents, each swing of his sword left a trail of blood in its wake. Adrenalin coursed through every fibre of his being and heightened his senses, he could predict every move his opponents made to return the blows.

He was agile and undoubtedly smooth in his _dance_. There was little room for any excessive movement – each strike he made was shaped and catered to be as lethal as possible with limited energy expenditure. He had been trained in the _dance of swords_ since he had been able to lift a sword. His opponents were comparable to yearlings; they may have the training, but they lacked the experience and capability of killing. And he, he killed his first man in his ninth winter and his record had only grown since then.

Flicking the hidden mechanism in his arm guard, a short knife slid into place followed by the click from the locking mechanism. Within a heartbeat, he embedded the knife into abdomen of his opponent – the knife was short therefore the cut was shallow, but it delivered its purpose. As he was about to pull back, the injured man before him grabbed his arm in a steel grip as one of his companion slashed at his back.

Releasing a breath, the man’s body went straight into action. A powerful kick sent the man grasping onto his arm crashing into the metal cage behind him. As the sword came down, the man swerved his body fluidly to evade the blow, but felt the metal cut deep into his shoulder. The sting from the fresh wound threw him off balance momentarily as it had been ages since he had last been wounded.

But it was only for a moment. The feeling passed even before his brain could register it as pain. The man felt the corners of his lips lift slightly as he glanced at the man who managed to land the attack.

_Interesting._

Lifting his sword up, the man flung it expertly at the offending man and while his opponent dealt with the flying weapon, the man turned and escaped towards the army barracks.

*~*

“Fuck!” Lang growled as he struck the flung sword away with his own.

Lang had been momentarily occupied with the sword that had been thrown at him, and the assailant had managed to escape. Throwing a quick glance at Zhao who had been slammed against the cage, Lang quickly took off after the masked man.

“You still alive?” Lei asked breathlessly as he placed his hand on the shoulder of Zhao.

Apart from having the wind knocked out of him and the slowly widening circle of red on his abdomen, Zhao nodded exasperatedly back at Lei.

“Go get the bastard.”

Giving the shoulder a tight squeeze, Lei quickly took off after Lang. Another pair of arms started pulling on his clothes from behind as a frantic voice took over. Zhao felt like laughing at the gibberish the girl in the cell was suddenly sprouting as she fussed over him through the bars.

“I’m fine Yue. It’s nothing but a flesh wound. The blade was not long enough to cause any devastating effects.” Zhao acknowledged as he examined the wound. 

“Oh god. Oh god. Are you sure? Are you sure?” Yue questioned hurriedly as she tried to stem the bleeding with whatever amount of Zhao’s top she could manoeuvre with.

“Yes.”

His laughter was slightly strained as Zhao pushed himself off the ground whilst holding the scrunched up remains of his top over his abdomen. He scanned the perimeter for any signs of movement – and when there was none, he released the breath that he had been holding. Looking into the cell, his facial features softened from the scowl he didn’t know he had when he saw the worry etched on his childhood friend’s face. 

“I told you! I told you there was a murderer out there!” Yue cried, the I-told-you-so tone dripping heavily from her words.

Unable to stop himself, Zhao felt a ripple of laughter erupt from is throat at the slightly pouting face before him.

“We believed you. It’s just that we didn’t expect him to act this quickly.” Zhao explained. “Not since we increased the number of guards and all.”

“Guards?”

“Yeah, those two men were assigned here. They are – no, were elite soldiers.” Zhao said, his expression darkening as he turned his gaze onto the crumpled bodies of his men.

The masked assailant had run them through as though they were nothing. After the murder of Tien, Lang had assigned two men from his personal contingent to guard Yue in the guise of prisoners. These two men were part of a group of elites fondly addressed as _The Chrysanthemum Wolves_ by other soldiers as they were a squad associated with the personal army of the King’s. And here they were - one with glazed wide staring eyes, a look of confusion forever etched onto his face, a wound spanning the length of his neck, deep enough to expose bone; the other had a pained expression, his eyes brimming with unshed tears, a clean cut running down from his left shoulder to his abdomen, blood only just beginning to turn dull.

The stench of spilled blood hung heavily in the air, Yue felt as though she could taste the blood on her tongue as she nervously licked her lips. It was the second night in the cell and she had been introduced to two new cage mates that same morning. She had thought they looked a little too clean shaven to be the type to rebel against their commanding officers or do anything stupid. When nightfall came about, Yue wished she had been given the option to skip whatever happened next.

After dinner, Yue was ready to settle back down onto the same spot she had slept in the night before when the masked man stepped out from the shadows. She knew a scream was about to erupt from her throat and at the same moment, two sharp _clings_ accompanied by the noisy swing of rusted hinges from the cages next to her sounded. The two new inmates withdrew swords from beneath the straw in their cages and positioned themselves back-facing Yue. One of them quickly slashed at a nearby fire torch; his sword moving expertly as he flung the torch onto a stack of hay.

The flames spread quickly and a column of dark grey smoke rose high up towards the sky. They had managed to fend off the attacks from the masked assailant by working together – it was evident that these two men often trained together as their attacks support the other.

It all crumbled when the masked man efficiently landed a fatal strike onto one of the elites, his sword running smoothly down the man’s chest as though there was no bone or muscle in the way. The other elite had been stunned by the killing of his partner but was pulled out of it when Lang, Zhao and Lei entered the fray. He didn’t know when nor did he know how, but the masked assailant managed to step up from behind him, his sword lying horizontally across his neck. Before he could register anything, the sword was pulled across the base of his neck swiftly, severing both carotids almost instantaneously. He was dead before his body even hit the ground.

The sound of metal keys pulled Yue out from her memory. Zhao pulled open the cage door and beckoned for her to follow him. As a man and as one of the commanding officers, Zhao did not want to miss out on the chase, nor did he want to lose the opportunity of sticking his sword down the bastard’s throat.

“Come on. Hopefully Lang’s got that bastard cornered.” Zhao said as he gathered a small handful of earth – ignoring the pain, he swiftly stuffed the dirt into his knife wound.

He needed it to stop bleeding and this was an efficient way to stop it. He could always wash it out after when everything was settled. Looking up, Zhao sighed in exasperation at the horrified look on Yue.

“I cannot leave you here. Lang will kill me. Plus we don’t know if there are other accomplices of his,” Zhao explained as he pulled the reluctant girl out from the cage. “Besides, who’s gonna look after me should I faint along the way?”

Laughing, Zhao pulled Yue along as he immediately gave chase after the three men before him. The pair entered the entrance of the camp to a scene of confusion. Soldiers who had retired earlier had been roused awake by the shouts and the clashing of metal on metal. Hurrying through the crowd, Yue couldn’t help but stumble over her own feet as she could dragged along by Zhao.

If there was a murderer in front, wouldn’t the smartest decision be to run in the opposite direction as fast as you can? She wished she could knock out the idiot in front who was pulling her by her wrist. Looking up to the sky, Yue asked the gods _why oh why do I have the worst of lucks?_

Weaving through the labyrinth of tents, Zhao’s feet came to an abrupt stop to prevent body slamming into the man before him. The body weight slamming hard on his back indicated that Yue had not followed suit.

“Commander!” Zhao yelled out as he rushed forward to the injured male before him.

Kang turned around and took in the sight of Zhao and Yue. His eyes narrowing upon seeing Yue out of her cell. However, his military training and experience reminded him that the priority now was not the release of an ignorant runt, but the presence of an unknown individual in his camp.

Yue released a gasp when she noticed the long slash wound diagonally across Kang’s entire back. Blood soaked through Kang’s entire top and was dripping steadily onto the ground from the frayed bottom edges. Nearby laid the body of another soldier, his heart stabbed through.

“He appeared out of nowhere and took Fei out.” Kang said, his voice hard as nails as his eyes shifted to the body of his soldier.

“Sir, we need to get the physician to look at your wound.”

“No. I will wait for Lang to return with news. Get yours looked at.” Kang ordered.

Kneeling down next to the body, Kang reached forward and closed the eyes of the dead man. His hand rested on the dead man’s eyes for a moment, his face grim with anger before he brought it back to his side, balling it into a tight fist.

“That son of a bitch has to die.”


	13. Chapter 12

_A piercing glare followed by the sharp glint from the sword – it was raised and ready to be swung down with barely a hint of hesitation. Without a doubt, a blow from this man was enough to knock the head clean off a neck as though he were merely playing a game._

A chill ran down the length of her spine causing a burst of gooseflesh to appear across the surface of her skin. Trembling slightly, Yue moved herself closer to the fire in an attempt to shake off the terror of a man unseen. The crackle of the firewood nor the warmth that was seeping across to her skin from the teacup was enough to chase the gloom away. From her peripherals, she could see Zhao getting scolded by the physician for stuffing soil into his wound.

It was barely half an hour since the attack from the masked man, but it seemed the entire camp was awake and every single men out there was chasing after the unseen. Yue could hear a chorus of “ _Check the woods!” “Are we under attack?” “Where are the officers?” “What’s going on?”_

“Those half-baked idiots are going to get themselves killed.”

At the intrusion of a familiar voice, Yue’s head snapped in the direction of the physician’s tent entrance. The flap of the doorway had been pushed aside, and the bloodied Kang entered followed by Lang and a few other officers Yue recognised but had no name to put to.

“Sir!” the physician cried out in exasperation after taking in the commander’s appearance.

“Zhao, how are you?” Kang asked as he waved the attending physician away from him.

“Sir. This is but a minor wound. You really should allow Dengyu to check your wound out.” Zhao said as Kang forced him back onto the chair he was on.

“I am not going to die from something like this.” Kang said wearily as he settled into another chair situated close to the fireplace.

“The assassin?” Zhao inquired looking at Lang for answers.

“He got away.” Lang replied, his voice full of raw anger. “For the moment, I’ve assigned Lei to organise patrols around the camp to maintain the order of the men. However, I am not too sure how long it would be before the men start asking questions.”

“Each of you are to settle your own sectors. Ensure every single men is accounted for. Take over the patrolling duties from Lei and I want the entire mountain searched. I want that bastard to be caught; it matters not to me if he comes in breathing or not, but I would like to interrogate him personally if given the chance.” Kang ordered, his fists balling up; knuckles taut.

“Fei Yu.” Kang called out.   

The one called Fei Yu stopped abruptly at the door before turning around to face Kang. With a body any bodybuilder would have been jealous of and a handsome face that had been marred by a long jagged scar from beneath his hairline cutting just beneath his right eye, ending on his right cheekbone. Dark eyes returned Kang’s gaze as Fei Yu walked closer into the light from the fireplace.

“I apologise for not being able to protect your brother.” Kang began as he stood up to stand before Fei Yu. 

Having been in an environment that was usually full of testosterone-fuelled men; Yue could feel herself staring opening at the scene before her. Kang was bent at the hip as he bowed as a form of repentance to Fei Yu.

“You allowed him to be placed in my care and I’ve failed not only him but you as well.” Kang said with his head bowed. “I’m sorry.”

Fei Yu looked on at Kang stoically before his arm shot out from his side and socked Kang hard across his jaw. Before Yue could even acknowledge what had happened, Kang slammed hard atop of her as both bodies crumbled onto the ground before the fire. Uttering a groan, Yue opened her eyes to see the back of Kang’s head and the teacup she had been cradling before in pieces some feet away.

“We have been together since we were kids. Fei Zheng knew the risks of being your aid and the both of us pledged to follow you no matter what paths it may lead us to.” Fei Yu said as he knelt down before Kang. “So do not ever apologise for whatever has happened. You are the only one who cannot bow to the circumstances.”

Silently, Kang sat himself up. Placing his palm onto the shoulder of Fei Yu; although no further words were exchanged, that was all that was required for the other. Fei Yu returned to his feet and exited the tent without any further ado – he had a duty to organise his own men.

“Kang, if you do not let me see to your wounds right this instant, I am going have to be forced to sedate you and have my way with you!” the physician Dengyu said with a chuckle as though he were talking to any other soldier.

The tension left behind by the departure of Fei Yu was instantly broken by the hint of playfulness in Dengyu’s voice. Kang looked up from where he was seated and the frown that had been etched on his face softened slightly by the words of the well-meaning physician. Standing up, Kang turned and reached out to the person he had fell on after getting punched by his childhood playmate. Stunned, Yue stared at him wide-eyed like what others would have classified as a deer-caught-in-headlights look. Ignoring the look, Kang reached down and grabbed Yue’s upper arm, pulling her easily onto her feet.

“You looked at him yet?” Kang asked Dengyu.

“Yes yes I have. He’s fine. Just scrapes and bruises; nothing like let’s say a slash wound that has been bleeding all over the floor of my tent.” Dengyu replied with a pointed glare at Kang.

Letting out a slight chuckle, Kang released his hold on Yue and relinquished his body to the medical expertise of Dengyu. Hearing his laughter, it finally dawned onto Yue that Kang was a young man.

_He is a young man!_

He looked about the same age as Zhao and Lang - that meant he was even younger than her back in the present. He was barely thirty and he had the command of more than a hundred soldiers; he had to be responsible for all those lives under his command.

_It’s no wonder he acts like his balls are so far up his ass..._

Slapping herself mentally for thinking that, _the worse mental image ever!_ – Yue watched in awe as Kang allowed Denyu to pour alcohol onto his open wound without flinching even once. Kang’s back muscles were very well-defined, evident of all the hard training he placed his body under. Biting down onto her lower lip, Yue chose to turn away from the scene in front of her when she felt her blood pooling at her cheeks.

_Not good! Not good at all!_

The slight smile that formed on her lips quickly died when she spotted Lang staring at her with semi-raised eyebrows. Mouthing the words _shut up_ , Yue promptly settled down into a squat as she picked up the puzzle pieces her teacup had ended up becoming. Inside, Yue started berating herself for acting like some teenage girl who’d go crazy for the class favourite just because he had a nice smile _and a really nice body—NO! Yue, stop it!_

Quickly gathering up all the broken pieces of the teacup, Yue proceeded to throw them into the trash bucket that was so conveniently situated at the side of Kang’s chair. Biting her lip to prevent a stupid smile from forming, Yue cursed herself inwardly for not being able to control the flapping of the metaphorical butterflies in her stomach.

“Digest them butterflies. Digest them butterflies!” Yue was chanting to herself when Lang grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the tent.

“No. I am not even going to comment on that.” Lang started with a hand up to Yue’s face even before she opened her mouth.

“Because the assassin managed to get away, we do not know when he’ll return to finish the job.”

“Fi-finish the job?!” Yue cried out. “You mean, me?? Finish me?”

“Sure, there are other men in this camp who are more suitable candidates,” Lang said but stopped short when Yue’s face changed from fear to annoyance. “But he came back tonight to get you.”

“I do not want you to be alone anytime, you understand me?”

Yue nodded silently.

“Stay close to either Zhao or I during trainings.”

“Okay.”

“Sit with everyone during meal times.”

“Okay.”

“When you retire back to your tent, call Lei if you need help. You can trust him.”

“… Fine.”

“And when you want to clean yourself, tell either Zhao or I; we’ll accompany you.”

“Fine. Eh? Wait! What?! No way in hell!” Yue whispered fiercely, afraid the men around them might hear.

“Yue. If there is one time where you are most vulnerable, it will be during then since you cannot bring a weapon with you nor can you bathe with the other men considering your circumstances.” Lang explained with a tinge of annoyance.

“Besides, we’ve seen everything before.” Lang continued with an unnatural stoicism.

Not wanting to draw any attention to them, Yue could only then send a torrent of smacks towards the head of the inwardly laughing man.

“Shut up!” Yue growled as the stoicism slowly chipped away from Lang.

A tinge of a smile was appearing faintly on his lips as he dodged the rain of attacks. From behind, a pair of arms grabbed Yue’s flailing arms and locked them to her side. Cursing loudly at the newly arrived Zhao, Yue tried to aim a back kick at Zhao. A large palm settled in place atop of her head; a gesture so calming that Yue felt herself relax immediately. Staring up at Lang, Yue was taken aback by the soft smile that was directed to her. Zhao released the arms he had been holding and swung and arm across Yue’s shoulders, his own face mirroring a similar smile.

“Don’t you worry kiddo. We’ll protect you!” Zhao whispered gently so Yue was the only one who could hear it.

Hearing that, Yue quickly covered her face with her hands to block out the hot tears that started to leak from her tightly shut eyelids.


	14. Chapter 13

The harsh afternoon sun bore down with relentless heat against the backs of the soldiers. Many of which had stripped down to just their pants as they aided in the rebuilding of a village on the northern outskirts of the training camp. The village had managed to escape complete decimation due to the prompt arrival of imperial troops - although more than half of the town houses along with approximately thirty villagers had been destroyed in the process. 

Midway through the removal of the wreckage of a burnt house, Yue paused to catch a breath as she wiped a layer of sweat off her face with the back of her folded sleeves. The summer’s heat was overwhelming; the lack of shade and the strenuous activities at hand was enough to incapacitate several members of her batch mates.

The company’s physician, Dengyu had been kept busy all morning tending to both soldiers and villagers alike who had been unable to take the heat.

It was tough.

The only consolation Yue had was that Kang was their division’s head commander and he was working _topless_. Ever since the foiled assassination attempt, Yue had tried - but failed miserably - to control her heart’s fluttering at the sight of her commanding officer, therefore she gave up trying after a week or so.

_Motivation is always something good isn’t it?_

Yue had managed to catch a few brief glimpses of Kang as he went about the village, aiding in the reparations and the release of commands to the lower ranking soldiers, and metaphoric butterflies took flight every time she saw the sweat _glistening_ off his broad muscles.

_Glistening? Erghh… What. A. Word._

Mentally slapping herself, Yue was forced back into reality by the call from Lei who had been working nearby.

“Stop day-dreaming and get them hands working!” yelled Lei; his face red from the heat and wet from perspiration.

“It is too damned hot to be working like this. People can die from this heat!” Yue said, her arm reaching up to wipe her damp face once again.

“Yes, so the faster we’re done with this, the faster we can get out of the damn heat.” Lei replied throwing his perspiration soaked shirt in the direction of Yue.

The shirt fell short and landed with a wet _splat_ on the dust-covered ground, inciting a look of disgust from Yue. Although they had gotten off on the wrong foot right at the beginning, Lei was turning out to be someone rather dependable. Zhao and Lang both respected him enough to task him with the duty of company in-charge, where he would relay information and duties to the soldiers within their sector.

Lei was also well-skilled with the sword and had a decent aim on the bow. He could navigate almost as well as the battle-harden officers on horseback and was more than capable of defending himself against several opponents simultaneously.

“If only his attitude was better.”  Yue thought silently as she forced herself to pick up the other end of a beam, opposite from Lei.

As they carefully carried it off to a pile of reusable debris at the side of the village, they came across Lang who had just exited from the physician’s temporary clinic – an old shed that had been cleaned up for Dengyu’s use.

Lang’s face was devoid of all emotions save for a deep scowl etched deep into his features. His body was tense and he had not noticed the pair until Yue called out to him, even then, Lang excused himself before they could asked him for any updates regarding the whole situation. Apart from that, Yue had wanted to ask Lang about Zhao – lately, Lang had been the only one to watch over her whilst she washed up and she had rarely seen Zhao around.

“Hey.” Lei started as they trudged slowly along the dirt path. “What do you think about the suicides?”

“What’s there to think about?” Yue replied grudgingly, irritation laced within her words. “You can’t stop people from killing themselves can you?”

“No, I guess you can’t. But don’t you think it’s a little weird how so many of them are taking their lives?”

“Well, this is a high-stressed job; it’s no wonder why some people are unable to handle it.”

“But my men were one of the finest troops, their mental capabilities are not that fragile.”

“Lei, a physically strong person does not equate to a mentally strong person.” Yue explained, her tone harsher than she expected it to be. “Besides, most of them weren’t even that outstanding to begin with - they made up some of the more average-performing soldiers.”

Following her reply, Lei fell silent very quickly. Looking up at him, Yue was rather taken aback by the dark shadow that had fallen across Lei’s features; his eyes were dark and a ferocious glare stared back out at her. His lips were pressed into a taunt thin line and he refused to say another word after that, even after Yue tried to diffuse the tension by changing the subject.

Sighing deeply, Yue watch as Lei’s back stalked furiously away from her after they had deposited the beam at the debris pile. It was rare for Lei to lose his composure like that, Yue guessed that even the stresses of the job was getting to him.

“He’s not thinking about taking his own life is he?” Yue wondered aloud to herself as the thought emerged slowly.

Worry bubbled up from the pits of her stomach as she hurried after the shadow of Lei wanting to catch up with him to talk him out of whatever suicidal tendencies he may have. Try as she might have, she lost sight of Lei very quickly; she had retraced her steps back to the half-collapsed building she and Lei had been working on, only to find it empty. Fear slowly crawled out from the crevices within her heart and took her soul in an icy grip as mental images of Lei taking his own life played across her mind’s eye. Sure, the guy was irritating at times, but Yue would feel guilty if she could have done something about it.

The ghost of Tien’s eyes dimming as blood leaked from his wounds interrupted her thoughts suddenly, caused an eruption of goose-flesh across her skin. The hairs on her arms and the back of her neck stood at attention as she recalled Tien’s life disappear from within his eyes; how the shine dulled so very quickly.

All of a sudden, Yue felt the same fear prickle at the tips of her extremities; the same fear she felt on the night Tien was murdered. She was being watched – watched by the very same eyes as the assassin. Yue couldn’t see him just yet, but the gaze held the same murderous intent; enough to cause her organs to turn ice cold. Although she knew _he_ was around somewhere, Yue didn’t dare look up from the single spot her eyes had been staring at.

She couldn’t.

At that moment, a gush of hot wind rushed through the holes in the fractured building before her; making a sound as though the wind was screaming. Portions of the building which were loose crashed down to the earth tearing through the fear-driven trace Yue had been in and slammed her back into reality. Just as how she knew she had been watched, she knew exactly when the gaze disappeared off her. Her head shot up as she swung round, pivoting on her heel.

Nothing.

Not even the rustling of the branches nor leaves to indicate the exit of the assassin.

“Fuck.” Yue cursed as she scanned the area around her once more.

Where the hell were the boys when she needed them?

Still high on the adrenaline, Yue felt herself spinning before she even registered the thought. She glared at the newcomer with her furiously beating heart in her throat before allowing herself to relax just a little when she recognised the person.

“Where the hell have you been?” Yue asked breathlessly, her voice sounding higher than normal.

“Around.” Zhao replied tiredly, although his eyebrows were raised in amusement. “What’s got you so high-strung for?”

“That crazy fellow who killed Tien was here just now!” Yue cried out, her voice finally cracking.

“Did you engage?” Zhao asked worriedly without a hint of hesitation as he closed the distance between the two of them.

“I doubt I will still be standing here talking to you had I fought him.”

Zhao checked Yue over for assurance, to make sure she was really as healthy as she claimed to be. Satisfied with his scrutiny, Zhao found himself a suitable make-shift chair and sat himself down.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around lately.” Zhao apologised wearily.

“Where have you been?” Yue asked again once her heart had returned to its original location and resumed its normal beatings.

Looking carefully at Zhao, Yue could tell Zhao had not been sleeping well; the bags under his eyes were dark with a tinge of purple. His complexion looked sickly pale, and his cheeks appeared hollow. His naturally bright eyes were dull in comparison and it was as though his entire body had shrunk; he seemed so much smaller, so much weaker than before.

“I’ve been around.” Zhao repeated his answer from before with a small smile.

“SERIOUSLY? That’s all you’re gonna say? Dude! You look like you’re dying!” Yue roared, her arms failing before her as though they were capable of forcing a proper answer out from Zhao.

“I wish I had the power to send you back to the village.” Zhao sighed, ignoring Yue entirely. “You’re becoming coarser.”

“Well, it ain’t up to you. Kang said the only way we could leave the army was if we died or if we ended up maimed beyond normal function. If I could get back without losing any limbs, I would.”

Sighing deeply, Zhao looked at Yue with sad eyes and a shake of his head. He regretted not trying his best to get her out of the army at the beginning when he had first found out about her disguise. It was because of his hesitation which has landed Yue into this predicament – with a killer on the loose and her name at the top of his to-kill list.

“If I had a way to get you home, would you let me?” Zhao asked quietly after a moment’s silence.

“Will it involve either you or Lang getting into trouble with the higher ups?” Yue asked with a cocked brow.

A small grin formed on the former’s lips and Yue crossed her arms across her chest as a sign of defiance.

“Then, no.”

“I’ll have to tell Lang to always keep you in his sights then. We don’t know when the assassin will appear again.” Zhao pondered aloud to himself.

“Why not you?” Yue asked.

“Huh?”

“Why don’t you spend more time watching over me instead of asking Lang to do it?” Yue asked, her brows knitting into a deep furrow.

“If I could, I would,” Zhao muttered under his breath before continuing aloud: “I’ll be busy from now on. Got to do what a captain’s got to do.”

“Lang’s assistant commander! And he’s always around!” Yue replied exasperated.

“He’s different. He’s capable of juggling all his duties and still get a proper night’s rest. I haven’t had a proper sleep in days!” Zhao laughed, dispersing whatever tension that had settled between the two.

Zhao watched as the worries dissipated from the lines on the younger girl’s face and smiled when he noticed the tension leave her taunt shoulders. He really loved Yue and didn’t want her to be worried for him. He was the older one here, and he certainly didn’t need the younger one to be on his tail – not now. He had been warned, and he didn’t want her to get caught up with the business at hand; he didn’t want to be a cause of misery for Yue.

Zhao motioned for Yue to join him on the rubble as he asked for an update in the comings and goings recently. As Yue complained and ranted on the things that pissed her off, Zhao felt a tinge of guilt building from the pits of his stomach. What he was doing was going to piss her off majorly when she finds out, and he pitied Lang for when it happens.

Because, he wasn’t going to be around to bear the blunt of her fury when it does happen.


End file.
